I don't remember ever eating beets in my life, and I certainly haven't wanted to do it.
This summer we bought a share in an organic community farm, and they sent three beets to us in the last box of groceries. The beets were the whole plants, with slightly wilted looking greens attached. I looked at them perplexed, and pretty much resigned myself to the idea that they would be rotting in the compost heap soon.
I mean, beets? Wilty beet greens? BLECH!
I asked my ex-husband if he ever liked beets or had a way to cook them, and he said no.
I asked my husband if he knew how to cook them, and he said that they were really yummy pickled (and that you could also roast them and saute the greens).
Well, that didn't sound appealing at all.
That said, my husband is pretty busy these days and I wasn't sure he'd get around to cooking the beets.
My curiosity started to take root.
I found Roasted Beets and Sauteed Beet Greens by "BN61079" on allrecipes.com, and I figured that I'd give it a go. I didn't even attempt to make everything at the same time, as my brain would have broken. I adapted things just slightly.
Mildly Tweaked Beets and Greens
3 beets (with greens attached)4 Tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons chopped red onion
butter
salt
pepper
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| The roasted beet. It smells like dirt. |
The Beet Part
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the greens away from the beets, and put them to the side.
- Then wash the beets, and cut off the tough tops and weird little rooty bottom bits.
- Put all of the beets in a baking dish (like a ceramic corningware dish with a glass top). Honestly, I didn't even remember I had one of those.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, and kind of roll the beets around in it. You might want to use some kind of implement for that, or you'll get olive oil hands (like I did).
- Cover and cook for 70 minutes. (The recipe called for 45-60 minutes, but that didn't seem to be enough time in my oven or with my cookware.)
- Check to see if the beets are done by sliding a knife into the biggest beet you have in the dish. It should slide in super easy and cut down without resistance.
- Remove outer skin from beets, and chop them up into bits.
- Add butter, salt, and pepper to taste.
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| Cooked and chopped up! |
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| It looks like a massacre on a plate. |
The Beet Greens Part
- Cut the leaves free from the thick stems.
- Wash all of the greens, and stack them in a bowl.
- Tear leaves up into small 1-2 inch sections, and tear free of center stem while you do it. If there are very tiny and tender leaves, just keep the center stem in.
- Cut up garlic cloves (after peeling them). My garlic had started growing, so I also removed the green plant from the center. The recipe said to "mince" garlic, so I just cut it into sort of small pieces.
- Cut up red onion into small pieces. I failed to check the refrigerator to see that I already had one slightly cut up, so now I have two sliced onions. So, this is a reminder to check next time!
- Put onions and garlic on some kind of saucer.
- Put about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, and then heat it. My stove doesn't have "medium-low". It has Lo, 1-9, and High. I used 3 or 4, although I can't remember which. Either way, heat the olive oil and then add the onions and garlic. I waited until the stuff was "sizzling" pretty good, and then let them go on for a minute.
- Add the greens, sort of evenly over the sizzling stuff. Then, take a safe object and stir things. (I used a silicone spoon dealie.)
- Stir around pretty actively until it seems like things are darker and soft. I erred on the side of caution, and maybe didn't cook mine quite enough.
- Add salt and pepper to taste!
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| These actually look pretty! |
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| On the plate, with some salt and pepper. |
Verdict:
I tried the greens first, as they were finished far before the beets. I wanted to wait and eat them both together, but I just couldn't contain myself. I ate every last bit myself. That's right. I didn't even wait to share it with someone else. They were surprisingly yummy, and we didn't have very many (since there were just the three beets). I think that if I had more beet greens, I would add more garlic and onions. (So, for every three beets that have greens I'd use what I did above). I would definitely want them again!
The beets took a long time to cook, and they smelled like dirt. I didn't like the way the kitchen smelled, and they were a pain to peel. I don't know if I had to do that...but I did. Any advice about that? They also leave messy purple/red stains all over. That said, served with some real butter, salt, and pepper...they charmed me. They are sort of sweet and interesting. I don't know how far I'd go out of my way to eat them, but they did turn out well (as far as I know).
Caution: I have never eaten beets before, and I may have destroyed these and simply liked the taste of utterly ruined beet.
~ Patty :)
I've never had any trouble peeling beets after cooking. The biggest pain is waiting for them to cool enough to handle comfortably. I do not cover my beets with a lid in the oven. I don't know if that may have contributed to your peeling difficulty, but technically it's not roasting if they're covered because the moisture gets trapped and they steam. That's something you could try differently and see if it if makes them easier to peel.
ReplyDeleteI like to peel my beets before roasting, but I chop them up into fairly uniform chunks and I don't roast them whole. Mix with your choice of other root veggies such as chopped potato, chopped carrot, chunks of onion, whole peeled garlic gloves. Fennel bulb, celeriac (aka celery root), rutabagas, turnips, parsnips all work, too. But beets are good plain, too. After prepping your veggies, toss with olive oil in a utility bowl so they are evenly and fairly well-coated. Then season with salt (kosher or coarse sea salt if you have it) and fresh black pepper a bit at a time, toss, repeat (to distribute seasonings evenly). I like to add dried dill as well. Dill goes well with beets, potatoes, carrots. Rosemary would be another good choice (separately). Then spread on a baking sheet with edges (so they can't roll off), or use a shallow pyrex baking dish or pie plate. You want a single layer, not a pile. Roast uncovered at 375. Take them out every ten minutes or so and shake the pan or use a heat-proof spatula to flip and toss things around a bit so they'll brown evenly. Depending on how small you cut things, they'll be ready in 30-45 minutes. Garlic can burn so keep an eye on it especially, if you use it. Red beets will bleed beautifully on the other veggies, if using.
Since you enjoyed the greens, you'd probably like swiss chard just as much (especially the ruby red chard - with red stems - it tastes just like beet greens and all chard is botanically related to beets). The chard stems are perfectly edible, they just take longer to cook so cut the leaves from the stems, slice your stems, and give them a head start after you've cooked your onions/garlic for a minute (again, depending on how big/small you chop things).
Beets are also available in yellow and orange varieties, if you don't want deeply stained hands.
Congrats on trying something new - a CSA box will force that sometimes! Ha.
Thanks for the great advice, and the new things to try!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I remember if you roasted them long enough the skins just slid off. Hrm.
ReplyDeleteI adore beets. Always have. My mama and I were the only ones who ate beets, so fresh ones didn't come into our house as it wasn't worth the cost. We got an occasional can of pickled beets and I always get the pickled beets at the salad bar.
BORSCHT! There's one more way to make beets. It's like pickled beet soup. Mmm.
I've never made beet greens, because I always forget to cook my beets from my CSA right away and by the time I get to them the beet greens are really, really sad looking and I tend to just chop them off and throw them out. I'll have to cook them up next time. Your recipe sounds delicious.
The skin did slide off with just a slight push, I'm just a baby sometimes. hah
ReplyDeleteI've never had pickled beets. I'll have to give that a whirl.
My husband mentioned Borscht, but isn't that cold? I shiver to think of it...but...maybe....
My beet greens were looking super sad, so it is definitely worth a try!
Here's a recipe from my mom: Beets in Sour Cream
ReplyDeleteMake a roux by melting 2tbl butter, adding 1tbl flour and 1/4 cup beet juice(from 1 lb.can of cooked beets, or your own cooking water). Add 2tbl vinegar, 2tbl sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Add drained sliced beets and simmer 10 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup sour cream. Heat, but do not boil.
I make two salads with beets
#1 grated raw beets, diced celery, grated carrots, mayo, lemon juice, ginger and walnuts
#2 just make the same as your favorite potato salad, substituting beets for potatoes. I like green olives in it.
Thank you! I'll have to try that, as it seems possible.
ReplyDelete