[Molly] It's beet harvest season,
and I've got tons of food in store for the farmers.
Man, this is good stuff, Nick.
It's great.
[Molly] Like my chorizo and tot breakfast burritos drizzled with ranch,
mouthwatering giant sausage pasta oozing with cheese.
This is what I waited all harvest for.
Yas, with an "A".
A fresh and citrusy shaved fennel salad.
And for dessert, my celebratory red beet reddish velvet cake
with cream cheese frosting is truly un-beet-able.
Happy harvest. Yay!
Look at these beauties.
Hey, this is me, Molly Yeh.
This is my husband, Nick, this is our growing family,
and this is our farm on the North Dakota- Minnesota border,
the place where I eat, sleep and breathe food.
It's beet harvest.
We're in the home stretch,
and I've got to get some fuel into these farmers
so they can finish off strong.
So I'm making one of my go-to harvest meals.
My chorizo and tot breakfast burritos.
They are hot, melty and meaty.
Truly the ideal handheld situation
to scarf on a tractor.
I'm starting with one of the most important parts, the tots.
And I'll bake them for a really long time
so that they get extra crispy.
Like, ignore what the package says.
No offence to the package.
But you wanna get them super, super, super crispy
so that they hold up in the center of the burrito
and they don't risk getting soggy.
I'll season with a little salt and pepper.
And then I'll bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes
until they're dark brown and crisp.
While the tots crisp, I'll cook up my chorizo.
I've got a skillet here heating over medium high heat.
I'll add a drizzle of oil.
We've got eight ounces of pork chorizo here,
which is smoky, a little spicy
and so, so flavorful.
I'll break it up with my spoon
into little pieces as it cooks.
So harvest is the busiest time of year on the farm by far.
Nick works these crazy hours,
and he never has time to come in for an actual meal.
So I'm always sending out big coolers of calories to him.
And I quickly learned that anything that is meaty and cheesy and handheld
is a win during harvest.
So these burritos tick all the boxes.
As this finishes up cooking, I'll chop up an onion
just to get more flavor in there.
What Nick has told me about these burritos is that
if he forgets to eat them while they're still hot,
he'll stick them inside the hood of the tractor
and then reheat them that way.
I thought that was silly.
Stir this around and allow the onion to soften.
I, kind of, like a breakfast burrito
that's been sitting around for half an hour
because everything melts and steams together.
Mmm.
The onion is soft and the chorizo is fully cooked.
I'll remove it from the heat.
Just set it aside in my bowl.
I'll wipe up my skillet 'cause I'll use this to cook the eggs, too.
I'll return the pan to the heat.
I've got shredded mozzarella, which is super melty,
and it's mild so it allows the chorizo to shine.
And my big flour tortillas.
Right. So to cook this, this is a really fun method.
I'll add a drizzle of oil to my pan.
A quarter of the chorizo and onion mixture.
I'll scatter it out evenly.
And then I'll pour in enough egg
to cover the surface of the pan.
These are just beaten with salt and pepper.
I'll tilt it so that goes all the way to the edges.
I'll sprinkle with cheese.
And I love using mozzarella here.
It's melty, it's mild.
And then the cheese and the egg, which hasn't fully set yet,
will help glue on the tortilla.
Before the egg fully sets, I'll press the tortilla on.
And I should mention that I'm doing this on a non-stick skillet,
which makes everything easier.
I'll brush the top of the tortilla with a thin layer of oil.
Once the egg is fully set on the bottom,
and I know that by wiggling the pan,
and it's no longer sticking to the pan,
it's ready to flip.
So I'll get under here with my fish spat
and swiftly, I'm gonna commit.
Flip it. [mimics fanfare]
I'll allow the tortilla to get golden crisp on the bottom.
I love the way that the tortilla gets lightly fried.
There's still some chorizo juices at the bottom there.
[grunts]
I mean, I'm making these for the farmers,
but I'm also, obviously, making one for me.
Now that the tortilla has some brown color on it...
Oh, it looks good.
I'll slide it out of the skillet.
Grab my tots. Those are beautiful.
And then pile tots right onto the center.
Drizzle of sriracha, adds some nice color and heat.
And then I'll roll this up into a tight little package.
Oh, yeah, that looks so good.
This one is not for Nick. This one is for me.
But I need the sauces first.
Gotta have salsa.
I love tomatillo salsa with this because it's so bright.
And then I figure if we're having tots,
let's just go all in and have ranch on the side as well.
Ready for this cross section.
Ready for this crunch.
Oh, yeah. Mmm.
That looks good.
Oh, yeah.
Now we're talking.
Here I go.
Mmm-hmm.
Mmm. It's so good.
It's got all the food groups.
Meat, cheese, eggs, tots and ranch.
I'm in breakfast burrito bliss.
I'm gonna make some more.
I'll wrap them up in foil
and then leave them for the farmers out in the shop.
Molly brought us something here.
-Okay, burrito. Tot burrito. -Awesome.
-I like what I'm seeing so far. -Yeah, sure looks good.
Man, this is good stuff, Nick.
It's great.
May have to take a nap before we head to the field.
[Molly] Coming up, the secret to a red velvet cake
without the food dye.
Color me curious.
The end of beet harvest is a major cause for celebration.
And, obviously, any celebration needs cake.
And even more obviously, any beet harvest celebration needs a beet cake.
So I am making my beet reddish velvet cake.
It's a super dense, moist cake
with natural pretty pink color from the beets.
And, in my opinion, the underrated flavor combination
of beets and chocolate.
I'll start on my cake batter
by mixing up the dry ingredients.
Two cups of cake flour,
which contributes a light, tender crumb,
and one-and-a-half cups of all-purpose flour
so it's not overly light.
Four teaspoons of Dutch cocoa powder.
The earthiness of cocoa with the earthiness of beets is so delicious together.
Four teaspoons of baking powder.
And one-and-a-half teaspoons of kosher salt.
And I'll whisk this to combine.
Red velvet is the ultimate celebratory cake.
I had it all the time growing up.
And usually, when I would make it, I would use the whole thing.
Bottle of red food coloring.
But I wanted to use beets because the natural color is so gorgeous
and there's the connection to the beet farm.
Even though Nick grows white sugar beets
and I'm using red beets, they're still related.
All right. For my white ingredients,
I'm starting with one cup of heavy cream.
It adds so much fat that you don't ever have to worry
about this cake drying out.
And then I'm doubling down on the fat
by adding three quarters of a cup of sour cream.
My go-to celebration cake
piles as much fat as possible into it
without destabilizing the structure
because there is nothing more terrifying than a dry cake.
And then three quarters of a cup of beet juice.
I'm just using store-bought beet juice.
This isn't the juice from the can of pickled beets.
This is beets that have been juiced.
A tablespoon of vanilla.
Whisk this up, let the beet drop.
Look at how pretty that is.
Right.
Now, my third bowl.
Really going far with the bowls, but it's worth it.
I'll combine one cup of softened, unsalted butter
with half a cup of softened coconut oil.
This isn't fully melted.
It's about the texture of my softened butter.
And as an added bonus, since this is unrefined coconut oil,
it'll provide some very subtle coconut flavor.
Two cups of sugar. This is where the sugar beet comes in.
So there's actually beets in two forms in this cake.
I'll beat this on medium high for three to four minutes until it's pale and fluffy.
Don't rush this step.
Creating all these little air bubbles
is what's gonna contribute to a fluffier cake once it bakes up.
I'll add four eggs one at a time.
Incorporating the eggs one at a time
will ensure that they're getting fully mixed in and fully emulsified.
I'll reduce the speed to low
and then incorporate the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients
in three alternating additions.
It's coming together. Look at this gorgeous color.
I'll get this off of my mixer and finish up mixing by hand.
And this ensures that I don't overmix the cake batter.
I've got three eight-inch cake pans here
that are greased and lined on the bottom with parchments.
I always line my cake pans with parchment
because there is nothing worse
than putting in a ton of energy
to make a cake batter and then having it stick to the bottom.
I'll divide the batter up evenly between the pans.
The shade is gorgeous.
Is it pink? Is it light red?
Is light red the same thing as pink?
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
I'll spread these out evenly.
One thing I love about this batter
is that it doesn't dome too much in the oven,
and that's a sign of the fact
there is a lot of fat in this batter.
I'll stick these in the oven now at 350 degrees
for 32 minutes until the centers spring back when you poke 'em.
And in the meantime, I'll make my cream cheese frosting.
I've got my go-to cream cheese frosting recipe here.
It's just butter, powdered sugar,
salt, cream cheese and vanilla extract.
My cakes are fully cooled.
I'll level them now,
which will give me an even surface for stacking them up.
Mmm.
Right. Time to decorate.
I'll stack up my cakes, frosting in between the layers and all over
to give me a blank canvas.
And then, for the fun part,
I've dyed some American buttercream
-four colors to jazz it up. -Phew.
I'll use a petal tip for the blue and red,
giving it fringy frills.
A star tip with the gold to make a shell border.
A small round tip for my teal dollops.
Sweet maraschino cherries on top for the kid in all of us.
And sprinkles. Heck yes!
Happy harvest.
Next, my totally tubular pasta dish
will warm you to the core.
For the gargantuan vat of carbohydrates
that every farmer needs after harvest,
I am making my giant sausage pasta.
It's so creamy and cheesy and meaty.
It's one of those "get it away from me" dishes
because I can't stop eating it.
It might be within my top 15 bites of all time.
I love it.
To start, I'm browning two pounds of Italian sausage,
which provides so much flavor.
You can put sausage into anything, and I would eat it.
Now that it's fully cooked, I'll remove it from my pan.
To my pot, with all of those scrumptious sausage juices,
I'll dump in a bunch of little tomatoes,
which will cook down and create some juicy moments of respite
from all of the creaminess surrounding it.
I'll allow these to heat.
I love all these different colors of tomatoes.
These tomatoes are starting to soften and burst.
I'll pile in some spinach.
We have some baby spinach here
that I'll cook down.
It'll prevent me from feeling super bad
for eating all of this pasta.
And I love the flavor of spinach, and sausage and cheese.
I'll add some salt,
which will draw the moisture out of the spinach
and help it wilt.
I'll stir it around to get everything coated in that sausage fat.
This pasta has it all.
It could totally be a hot dish
because it has all the elements.
It's got a protein, the sausage,
it's got the veggies, it's got the pasta,
and then the creamy sauce that holds it all together.
So heck yeah.
The spinach and tomatoes are cooked down.
I'll get these out of the braiser
and toss them right in with the sausage.
Okay.
I'll start to build my cream sauce now, beginning with the roux.
And I'm using a combination of both butter and olive oil to get both flavors.
It's really tasty.
I'll toss in some garlic.
And stir it around.
Between the butter and the olive oil
and the sausage fat and the garlic,
my nose is having its own little party right now.
And then five tablespoons of all-purpose flour
will combine with the fat to create that roux,
which is gonna thicken up my sauce.
Always get around and allow the flour
to toast for a minute or two
so that that flour flavor can cook off.
Then I'll pour in two cups of heavy cream
and two cups of whole milk while I whisk continuously so that it thickens.
Sometimes the end of harvest can sneak up on you.
And you think it's a few days away,
but then Nick calls, and he's like,
"We got a lot done in the middle of the night
so we're gonna be done tonight
and we have to have our feast tonight."
And I'm like, "Ahhh!"
Mobilize.
This is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon now,
which is exactly where I want it.
I'll sprinkle in some grated Pecorino Romano,
which is sharp and so tasty.
A bit of dried oregano.
It's great, earthy depth.
Some black pepper.
And then a couple of good splashes
of my reserved pasta cooking water.
Has some starch in it.
It'll loosen up the sauce
and it will help the sauce bind to the pasta.
Okay, I'm ready to add the pasta.
I've got these gigantic tubes of pasta, called paccheri,
which are so gleeful.
And I've cooked them a few minutes short of the packaged directions
because they will continue cooking once this is in the oven.
These things are the perfect size
for one huge, sloppy bite.
I'll pile in the sausage and veggies.
Oh, look at all those pretty colors.
They're just gonna look prettier
when they're behind a veil of sauce.
I'll toss all of this together to coat.
This is what I waited all harvest for.
I mean, I worked hard this harvest, too.
I did two week straight of bedtimes for both of the kids
just by myself.
And a lot of dishes.
Normally, Nick does the dishes.
During harvest, I have to do all the dishes.
I'll dollop on some ricotta for another quality of creaminess.
It's just gonna be standalone pools of creaminess.
Getting so excited for this, if you couldn't tell.
Some more Pecorino.
Make it rain.
Yes, yes.
[grunts] Yes!
I'm gonna get this in the oven now at 400 degrees
for 25 of the hardest minutes I've ever had to wait in my life.
Yeah.
Still to come, my version of a simple Sicilian salad
that slams your mouth with brightness.
To provide balance and brightness
at our end-of-harvest dinner,
I'm tossing together a big fennel salad,
which is so fresh.
And it's got loads of juicy grapefruit.
I love this salad so much.
I literally shovel it into my mouth in big, sloppy bites.
To start, I'm thinly slicing some fennel bulbs.
I love fennel because it gets super crisp.
It's a little bit sweet, and it has that great licorice flavor.
It's very refreshing.
I've already sliced up some fennel bulbs
as well as some red onion.
And I have them soaking in ice water,
which mellows the flavor of the onion,
and it also crisps up this whole situation
so that it is extra refreshing.
I'll toss these right into the ice water.
Let them mingle while I make the dressing.
I've got some segmented grapefruit and orange here.
And I've reserved a bit of the juice,
which I'll start with in my dressing.
I'll combine it with two tablespoons of sherry vinegar.
A little zingy Dijon,
which will help the dressing come together and emulsify.
And some salt and pepper.
And I'll whisk this continuously
while I drizzle in a few tablespoons of olive oil
so that it can emulsify and thicken.
This is a super light dressing,
just glosses over the veggies
and makes them the best versions of themselves.
I'll add in some finely chopped fresh parsley and my fennel fronds.
I'll use some of them in the dressing.
And then I think they're so pretty to finish a salad with
so I'll save some for the end.
I'll combine this.
I'll drain my fennel and onion.
I'll add in my citrus.
I've got some orange and grapefruit here.
Grapefruit reminds me of being pregnant
'cause it was my biggest pregnancy craving.
Some almonds will add some heft to the salad.
I'll drizzle in my dressing and toss to coat.
This is such a satisfying salad.
Oh, yeah.
It's such a great combination of flavors.
I'll plate it up.
I'll finish with my fennel fronds.
Yeah! Let's rage.
This is the pasta dance.
What?
This! This!
This is the pasta of my dreams.
These are some lucky farmers.
I'll finish with some crushed red pepper.
Yas, with an "A".
Look at how bubbly that is.
Oh, my good gosh. Cheese! Let's eat.
[Roxanne] It looks so delicious.
[Molly] Happy harvest.
-Happy harvest. -Happy harvest.
[Roxanne] Oh, Molly, you outdid yourself again.
You know, I love the citrus with the pasta.
-It's just such a beautiful balance. -[Molly] Mmm-hmm.
[Nick] We've had some pretty crazy harvests over the years.
-It was nice to get done before it snowed this time. -[Molly] Mmm-hmm.
There have been times when we did not get done before it snowed.
-[Molly] And what happened? -[Nick] But you've just gotta
dig around, looking for the...
Where are those darn beets? They're under here somewhere.
[Molly] Okay, who wants cake?
-[Roxanne] Yes, please. -[Roger] I want cake.
-Oh, perfect. -That looks beautiful.
[Molly] Yes.
It almost makes me wanna go through harvest all over again
-just to have another bite of this cake. -I'm honored.
-Cheers to harvest. -Cheers to harvest.
Cheers to harvest.