Golden Beet with Potato, Waterless Peas and Carrots, Guacamole

My daughter was hungry and had in mind some leftovers, but I wanted her to also have some freshly made vegetables. She asked for peas, and I offered peas and carrots; it used to be a staple for me growing up, and I thought that it would come out well cooked waterlessly with my Saladmaster cookware (a healthy way of cooking slowly over low heat). Whole Foods Market had a good sale over the weekend on organic avocados ($1.50 each) and we all enjoyed guacamole.


Ingredients

• Two golden beet roots, peeled, very bottom and top removed, then cut into 1/2" cubes
• One Russet potato cut into 1/2" cubes (organic so unpeeled - if not organic, peeled would be better)
• 1/4 cup Broccoli stalk cut into 1/4" cubes
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes
• 1/4 cup bell pepper cut into 3/8" cubes
• 1/2 t finely chopped ginger
• 1T miso (1/8t or a tablespoon of reduced sodium soy sauce could be used if there is no miso)
• 1/8 t freshly ground black pepper
• Last one
• Two carrots cut into 3/8" slices
• One cup frozen peas
• 1/4 t tarragon
• 1/8 t salt

Process

1. I put the beet, potato, broccoli stalk, and water in the Instant Pot and let it cook at high pressure for 9 minutes. I was out of garlic and bouillon cubes or would add them, as well (perhaps 3 cloves garlic chopped to 1/4" - they will end up tasting mild like roasted garlic). Instead of a cube of bouillon, I used the broccoli stalk.
2. I let the pot come down in temperature for a few minutes then let remaining steam out and added the onion, bell pepper, ginger, miso, and black pepper, stirred, and served.
3. While the beet was cooking, I put the carrots and peas into a small Saladmaster stock pan and cooked waterlessly. To do this, I covered the pan and let it heat up over medium heat till the vapor release started rattling, then I turned the heat down to low to try to get the rattle to stop. I cooked for about 30m, and continued to leave it on till I served, mixed with tarragon and salt.

I also made guacamole with avocado, shallot, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and rosemary.

Results

Everything was excellent, thanks to the pressure cooker and the waterless cooking. I was particularly surprised by the main course with the beet and potato. The flavor was great, and the bell pepper and fresh onion added welcome crunch. I really enjoyed the peas and carrots - the flavors were intense. The guacamole came out great! An avocado can have 20 or 30g of fat or even more. Though we ate much less than one avocado each, I still won't label this dinner as a no-added-fat one.

Ideas for the future

Garlic in each of the three dishes would have been nice. I was originally going to saute some tempeh and mix it in with the beet dish but was out of tempeh and came up with the idea of using the miso, which turned out to be a good idea. A little bit of raw onion in the peas and carrots could have been nice.