Derek’s S.O.B. Sundae
Derek and I went to Le Divan Orange for dinner last week, and loved their mushroom terrine with Sesame oil, Orange juice, and Beets. The sauce was unusual, and divine. We sopped up every last drop with our bread. It inspired Derek to create this dessert in which we substitute ice cream for the mushroom terrine.
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 Tbs. toasted sesame oil
- 1.5 tsp. sugar
- 4 medium/small beets, about 1 cup diced
- 1 pint of ice cream, vanilla or a nutty/caramelly flavor like maple walnut or butter pecan
- nice coarse salt, fleur de sel or kosher salt
- Roast the beets until cooked. Peel and dice finely into about 1/4-inch squares.
- Meanwhile, reduce the orange juice in a small pan on low for about 30 minutes, until only 2 Tbs. remain. Remove from heat.
- Dissolve the sugar into the still-warm orange juice. Add in the sesame oil and stir vigorously until it forms an emulsion. The result should be a thick, caramelly sauce.
- To plate: Scoop 1/2 cup ice cream into a bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of diced beets (preferably still warm) on top. Drizzle with a heaping tablespoon of warm sauce, then dust with coarse salt. Serve immediately.
My Notes:
There wasn’t quite as much beet flavor as we would have liked, but we boiled the beets instead of roasting them. I also used 4 Tbs. orange juice concentrate since I didn’t have fresh juice, but Derek thought not-from-concentrate would have been better.
Update 9/23/2007: I tried making the sauce and drizzling it over baby golden beets which had been roasted. I made the recipe for the sauce as above, with the concentrate again. My first thought after taking a bite was “too too sweet.” The only thing my taste buds detected was sweet. I didn’t get any beet flavor, and very little sesame. I hadn’t added any salt so I tried sprinkling some salt on. It helped a bit but it was still too sweet. I then tasted the sauce alone and it seemed okay–I could definitely taste both the orange and sesame. The sauce did seem quite thick, almost like caramel, maybe too thick for seasoning beets with? Maybe I should have thinned it down with a vinegar? Or maybe the golden beets just are too sweet for this sauce, at least with the added sugar? I tasted the beets by themselves and although they did taste “beety”, it was a pretty subtle flavor–none of that intense concentrated flavor I thought roasting was supposed to give them. Did I do something wrong? I just rubbed a little oil over them, wrapped each one in tin foil, and baked at 400 or so until they seemed soft. I let them cool a bit and then peeled them.
So now I’m left with a bunch of beets, which I will probably just add to a salad, and a good 1/4 cup of sesame orange sauce. What am I going to do with that??? I don’t have any ice cream.
The captious vegetarian 