Beets

Beets

Ahhh, beets. Nature’s candy! Just kidding, but they do feel like a zaftig gem that I often forget about until I’m biting into unctuous, meaty wedges of beet, and am taken aback by their unabashed alacrity. It’s my own loss that I forget about the magic of beets, until I finally roast some up and fall back in love with them, a surprise every single time. The irony here, of course, is that when I was once a chef at a fine dining restaurant in Minneapolis, my one highlight dish on the menu was a sweet little beet salad, tempered by an earthy pistachio pistou, blanched lemon peel, and the bitter pop of torn radicchio leaves. The beets were buried at the bottom of the plate and it now feels like a perfect metaphor for my rediscovery of beets, an awakening in every single bite.

Last summer when I got beets with my Growing Lots CSA, I saved up a couple weeks’ worth of them (they keep in a crisper drawer really well), and then roasted them until their skins slipped off easily. After that, I pickled them in a sweeter, gingery brine with some coriander seeds, and proceeded to throw those beets into any dish I could think of! I feel like I’ve waxed poetic about roasted beets a lot through here, but there’s also something to be said, on a hot day where turning on the oven just won’t do, for thinly shaved beets tossed with a little lemon juice, olive oil, crunchy salt, and maybe a little arugula for a peppery, astringent note to offset the full body of the beets.

Like carrot tops, beet greens can be reserved and used in any recipe that recommends chard, spinach, or bok choy. The greens are intensely earthy, but retain their texture well and are a lot of fun to throw in with a last minute pasta or salad!

Some Beet Recipes

Simply Roasted Beets (and a recipe to pickle them, as well)

Ingredients:

2 pounds of beets, scrubbed but left whole

A drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper

Enough water to fill the bottom of the pan, about 1”

To pickle the roasted beets, you’ll need…

¾ cup apple cider vinegar

¾ cup water

¼ cup fresh ginger, sliced

A couple bay leaves, if you have them

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon of coriander seeds

2 star anise

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon salt

Method:

To roast your beets, preheat your oven to 375. Scrub the beets, then oil them up and give them a little sprinkling of salt and pepper. I’m never sure if this seasoning actually makes a difference, but it certainly can’t hurt. Pop the beets in a baking dish, then add water. Put a lid (or a tight wrap of foil should do the trick) over the top of the baking dish, and place the baking dish in the oven for between 45 minutes to a little over an hour, depending on their size. 

Take them out and check on them at any time, but the beets will be perfect when they can be pierced easily all the way through with a fork. All of the water might evaporate, and that’s okay--it’s just to give the beets a little bit of an extra steam so the core can cook through as well.

Let the beets cool, and then the skins should just slip right off as you rub them! I hold them inside of a towel that I don’t mind staining, and paper towels work fine too. If the skins seem a little sticky, it’s fine to take a peeler to them once they’re all cooked.

To pickle the beets, once they are peeled, slice them into wedges (or round slices) and add them to a pint sized mason jar with the sliced ginger. Bring all of the brine ingredients up to a boil and then pour them over the beets. Let cool and refrigerate overnight before enjoying!

Shaved Root Vegetable and Crispy Chickpea Salad with Sumac Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

2 medium beets, peeled

1 bulb of fennel, halved but core intact

1 medium kohlrabi, peeled

½ a red florence onion

Torn or chopped herbs, including: fennel fronds, garlic chives, parsley, basil, and mint

A few segments of orange of grapefruit

1 can of chickpeas, liquid drained

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup champagne vinegar

2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup

1 tablespoon sumac, plus more for garnish

¾ cup olive oil

1 lemon, juiced

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Method:

To make the salad, simply shave all of the vegetables finely on a mandolin or slice them very finely by hand. (I’m terrible at this, so I really recommend a mandolin if you can!) Keep all of your vegetables separate until it’s time to plate, or the beets will bleed all over everything. The herbs can be torn and mixed together, and the fruit segments can sit in their own juice until you’re ready.

To roast the chickpeas, give them a good rinse and try to remove some of the outer skins if you can--but don’t fuss over it too much. Dry them on a baking sheet with paper towels on either side until they are pretty dry, then toss the chickpeas with the oil, salt, and spices. Spread them flat on a baking sheet and bake them at 375 for 45-60 minutes, giving them a shake or stir every 15 or so minutes, until they are crispy and browned (but not hard and dark).

To make the vinaigrette, combine the vinegar, honey, sumac, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a mason jar, and give everything a good hard couple of shakes, then add the olive oil and shake that up as well.

To serve, toss the vegetables together with the vinaigrette to taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, pepper, or lemon as needed. Garnish with the crispy chickpeas, more sumac if you’d like, and more fresh herbs on top!

Beet Latkes with Horseradish Sour Cream

Ingredients:

1 medium russet potato (270 g), peeled

1 large or 2 small beets, peeled

1 medium yellow onion

1 large egg

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

¼ cup (30 g) all-purpose flour

Freshly ground black pepper

Vegetable oil, for frying

1 tablespoon kosher salt

¼ cup prepared horseradish

1 cup sour cream (or yogurt works too!)

2 tablespoons chopped chives or scallions

1 teaspoon of salt, and a little more to taste

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Method:

For the latkes, grate the potato coarsely on the large holes of a box grater (or in a food processor using the grating blade). Wrap the grated potatoes in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze vigorously to get rid of any excess liquid. Transfer to a large bowl. Do the same with the onion. If you don’t care about staining your dish towel, do the same with the beets--otherwise, grate the beets and squeeze out the moisture by hand; add to the bowl with the potatoes and onion. Add the egg, thyme, flour, and black pepper; mix to combine.

Line a plate with paper towels. Fill a large nonstick skillet with vegetable oil to a depth of ¼ inch and heat the oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, stir the salt into the latke mixture, pick up a small handful, and squeeze out even more liquid (depending on the potato and onion you use, you might have quite a lot of liquid).

Shape the mixture into round, flat patties about 3 inches in diameter and carefully add them to the hot oil. Leave yourself  plenty of room between the latkes to flip them! Fry until the latkes are crunchy and slightly browned, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to the paper towels to drain. Salt the latkes once you pull them out of the oil.

For the horseradish sour cream, simply combine the horseradish, sour cream, chives, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl and adjust seasoning as needed.

Bonus: Beet Chocolate Cake

Of course, I don’t have my own well-tested recipe for this, but just thought that I would include this recipe (thanks Bon Appetit) because beets in sweets can’t be beat!: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/heartbeet-chocolate-cake

writing credit: Sadie Sayre, CSA member