I've always loved earthy, homey comfort foods. As much as the sunshine of summer makes me happy, come August, I'm longing for a good braised anything, even though I know it will make John look at me funny when I serve him pot roast in the 95 degree heat. I think of my admiration of root vegetables being tightly linked to this - substantial, meaty turnips and rutabega, jerusalem artichokes, I love them all.
So, kind of funny in the midst of all of this that I had never tried beets until the last year. Okay, so, yes, I guess I had tried beets, if you count the slightly scary pickled version canned on the grocer's shelf - don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of picking in general, but... no. So you can imagine my surprise upon ordering a lovely salad with roasted beets to learn that they were delicious (you might wonder why I ordered it if I didn't think I liked beets; clearly my love for goat cheese exceeds my imagined distaste for beets). Since then, if there's a beet on a menu, I order it; if there's a beet on John's plate, I quickly distract him so I can eat it. And if I have an evening with more than 20 minutes to get dinner on the table, you will quite often see beets there.
The cooking method for beets is pretty straightforward - you can boil them or you can roast them. You can cut them up before cooking to cut the time, but I'll warn you that I was not a fan of this method as it left the outer edges a bit drier than I like. As I experimented with my beets, I was thrilled to realize just how great the greens are as an accompaniment - I love that I'm able to use nearly all of the vegetable, and it makes a simple, cheap all-in-one side dish. And the sharpness and crunch of the greens is a perfect foil to the sweet creaminess of the beets. I top all of this with a sprinkle of goat cheese and... heaven.
Roasted Beets on Wilted Greens (serves 4)
One bunch of beets (3 large or 4 small)
NOTE: I find that one bunch of beets yields plenty of beets for our family of four, but is a bit short on greens. This works out okay for us, because my kids are happy to not have the greens on their plate, but if you are serving to four adults, you may wish to supplement the beet greens with other sharp greens - maybe arugula.
2T olive oil
1/2 of a small onion, chopped very fine
splash of red wine vinegar
2 oz goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 375 (or whatever temperature you are cooking dinner at - these are pretty forgiving). Chop the stems and dangling roots from the beet bulbs, reserving the green leaves. Wash them well under cold water and wrap loosely in aluminum foil. Place on a small sheet pan and roast for 45 - 60 minutes, until a knife easily goes through the largest beet.
NOTE: These will hold their heat very well after you remove them from the oven, so I usually toss them in about 90 minutes before dinner so I can be sure they are cooked through and that I have time to cut them up at the end.
2. In the meantime, very carefully rinse the beet greens under lots of cold water - these tend to have splatters of clay that really stick, so it's worth rinsing each one individually. Cut out the thicker red veins from the center of the leaves, tear into bite sized pieces, and rinse one more time for good measure.
3. Once you have removed the beets from the oven, open the foil package to let them cool slightly, then gently slip the skins off with your fingers. Dice the cooked beets into bite sized pieces and salt very lightly.
4. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, then cook the onion until translucent. Add the beet greens (okay if they still have water clinging to them), sprinkle very lightly with coarse salt and pepper, and saute until wilted - this will take a bit longer than spinach does, as these greens are a little tougher. When they are fully wilted, add a splash of red wine vinegar. I've found that the greens can get a bit salty if you're not careful, so recommend a light hand with salt and tasting for flavor both here and on the beets themselves.
5. To assemble the dish, put down a small pile of beet greens, top with the diced beets, and sprinkle with goat cheese.
My favorite way to eat beets is roasted, and sauteed greens are wonderful too!
Posted by: Christine @ Fresh Local and Best | 03/17/2010 at 02:03 PM