The next in a mid-winter series on how to turn the less popular veggies available at your local market or CSA box into real food, cooked simply that you would like to eat and your children or other picky family members may try as well (no guarantees). MCA staffer Kristina Bostick subscribes to a year-round CSA and shares how to cope when there is just too much ___. Find the other posts: Broccoli, Cauliflower and Acorn Squash.
As I have likely explained elsewhere in this series, we split our large CSA with another family - this also means splitting pick-up duties which is great as you don't have to be wedded to the CSA pickup time every week and when one family is gone a week you get double the food. The only downside is every other week the other family chooses what we get - and those guys looove beets. Where as we only like them ok.
I was probably in my 20s before I had beets the "right" way. Canned beets on salad was an occasional occurrence in my house - similar to over -boiled vegetables, no wonder I didn't like them. Some people can get behind the earthy flavor of the vegetables when they are simply canned. For the rest of us - roasting and pairing with a tangy or sweet flavor is the ticket to looking forward to them. A note on red/purple beets: they will stain fabrics, cutting boards and possibly countertops. One idea is to cover your cutting board with parchment paper. The dye also has an *ahem* long residence time in your digestive tract. The dye issue both at time of cooking and after digestion is the reason, when any toddler of ours was enjoying mashed beets, one parent promised to warn the other so they weren't alarmed later. Golden beets are also tasty if you want to avoid this problem entirely. Or use a red one to make technicolor deviled eggs or dye easter eggs.
I was probably in my 20s before I had beets the "right" way. Canned beets on salad was an occasional occurrence in my house - similar to over -boiled vegetables, no wonder I didn't like them. Some people can get behind the earthy flavor of the vegetables when they are simply canned. For the rest of us - roasting and pairing with a tangy or sweet flavor is the ticket to looking forward to them. A note on red/purple beets: they will stain fabrics, cutting boards and possibly countertops. One idea is to cover your cutting board with parchment paper. The dye also has an *ahem* long residence time in your digestive tract. The dye issue both at time of cooking and after digestion is the reason, when any toddler of ours was enjoying mashed beets, one parent promised to warn the other so they weren't alarmed later. Golden beets are also tasty if you want to avoid this problem entirely. Or use a red one to make technicolor deviled eggs or dye easter eggs.
1. Roast Them - From Ina Garten. Vinegar and orange juice elevate the beets.
2. Roasted Beet Salad Also from Ina Garten - this is typical of the Barefoot Contessa - easy to make but very flavorful and good. No kids touched this but grownups swooned. Don't let the arugula and marcona almonds worry you - plain old almonds (that I accidentally toasted just a little too long) were fine and I can see any other salad green working fine - you do want a crumbly cheese like goat cheese. I cooked the beets the night before so pulling the salad together was really easy while I let the almonds over-toast.
3. Pickle Them I have heard this is the way to go but I'll have to wait for another batch of beets - which will surely come.
4. Borscht (or Valentine soup) Often this Russian soup is made with beef stock and pork. This recipe may not be as authentic but it cooks in the slow cooker which is a huge plus. I called this valentine soup in hopes of getting some buy-in from the kids at the table. Perhaps that will work for you as it did not for me. They want you to blend this in batches to which I say - get yourself an immersion blender and it will change your life. No more pouring boiling liquids.
5. And you can eat the greens too! The greens of beets can be used like kale or collards. If you want to cook them in the traditional way, boiled down with a ham hock, check out this explanation of the southern tradition of 'Pot Likker'
