A SHORT RANT ABOUT BEETS
There are three things about beets about which I feel strongly. ( A bit redundant there… )
The first thing has to do with how they are sold.
If one wants to make a beet salad or side dish for two, and a few left overs might be nice, but not a lot, the normal market is not helpful. One goes to the market where one is faced with bundled beets- enough to make borscht for a large healthy family to live on for a week. One can buy potatoes loose, onions loose, tomatoes, peppers, and other things can be bought loose… why for heaven’s sake need a person buy beets in bunches? Beet greens, I understand, though wish they were available in smaller amounts as well. But large beets should be available singly- everywhere!
The second thing I feel strongly about is that beets should be roasted… not boiled, so they lose flavor and juice, becoming soft, squishy, and yucky, but roasted, in foil to preserve the taste, texture, and vitamins of the beet!
BEET ROASTED IN FOIL
Roasting a beet in foil is a LOT tidier than boiling it in water!
Slip off the skin, ball up the foil, and it is finished!!
And the third thing about beets is really a suggestion:
when working with beets, wear pink or red… it saves a lot of issues!
There, rant over…
TO ROAST A BEET
Wrap a single beet in foil, turn on the oven to 350 degrees F. Throw in the beet, and roast 1 1/2-2 hours. Check it at 1 1/2 hours. If a knife goes in nicely, it is done. Remove from oven, open the foil, cool slightly, and slip off the skin. If you wait too long it will be difficult to peel. If you are going to cube or slice the beet do so now, and the cuts will be clean.
If roasting more than one beet put them in a pan, and cover with foil tightly.
RECIPE:
BEET SALAD