Every year as Rosh Hashanah looms large it is time to put my creative hat on and revive interest in the Simanim foods or traditional blessed foods. I revive the Simanim by putting the ingredient for the blessing in some new recipe, or new presentation. This year my sister mentioned that she fried Spinach patties so I thought about a baked something with spinach in a muffin tin so as not to have too many fried patty things on the menu. Spinach and beets both satisfy the same requirement for a certain blessing so why not combine the two?
This was so visually stunning on the plate with the roasted tomato and beet garnish and it was a plate that I had made up ahead of time, leaving time for more urgent last minute dishes. It also tasted great room temperature.
Yield: 24 (two 12 cup muffin or cupcake pans)
Tomato Beet Relish:
3 containers multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
1 large or 2 medium beets, (oven roasted wrapped in foil and baked at 350⁰ F for one hour)
1 cup fresh pomegranate arils
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
2 teaspoon honey
Spinach Muffins:
½ pound beet greens
1 pound pre washed baby spinach leaves
1 red bell pepper
1 bunch green onions
1 cup fresh mint leaves
¾ cup Panko bread crumbs
½ teaspoon sea salt
8 extra large eggs
2 to 3 tablespoons safflower oil
Heat oven to 350° F. Wrap beets individually in aluminum foil. Place foil wrapped beets in oven, bake for one hour or until easily peeled and diced. Next, place washed and dried cherry tomatoes in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil, and a pinch of sea salt, and place on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet in preheated 350° F oven. Roast tomatoes for around 20 minutes or until they look deflated and starting to brown or caramelize in places. Remove from oven and cool.
Toss roasted cherry tomatoes, diced beets, and pomegranate arils together in a large bowl. Add pomegranate molasses and honey. Toss to combine and set aside.
To assemble the muffins; Slice clean and dry beet greens and spinach into very thin ribbons and then across. Toss together in a large bowl. Mince red pepper, green onions and mint leaves and add to bowl of spinach greens.
Add Panko crumbs, salt and eggs to large bowl with greens and mix all together until well combined. Oil muffin tins and divide spinach mix evenly among the muffin tins. Place filled muffin tins in a preheated oven and bake about 30 minutes or until edges of spinach muffins are turning brown. Remove muffin tins from oven and cool. Turn out spinach and beet green muffins onto a rack or plate and finish cooling .
To serve, place one muffin a small salad plate and garnish with a handful of cherry tomato , beet mixture and a sprig of mint.
This dish remind me of dish make of raw fish and vegetable of the Easter. But of course, without the raw fish. There’s a balance between color and taste for sure. Absolutely love it.