I was never a big fan of beets, until this year. They come in our CSA box, so I’ve been eating them a handful of times in a year for years and felt they were fine, sometimes good, but not a favorite. I have tried cooking beets a handful of different ways. One of my favorite ways is to braise beets along with turnips and greens. But my go to way is to wrap 4-5 of beets in foil with or without an olive oil drizzle and slow roast them in the oven until tender (an hour at 350 or so, varies on the beet size/type). I peel the beets after they are roasted, cut them into bite sized chunks and keep leftovers in the refrigerator. I eat the leftovers heated up or cold, plain or in a salad or other dish.
This fall, by accident (I got sidetracked with other tasks), I found out that reheating the previously cut and slow roasted beets over low heat in a pan with a little butter for quite a while (15 minutes or so) caramelizes the beets even more than the slow roast did and is absolutely delicious. It’s become a favorite lunch of mine when I’m at home. The taste and texture is almost meaty (tender steak tips) and tons of flavor. I appreciate how much flavor can be created with just a beet, and maybe a little butter and salt and no other ingredients. It’s kind of remarkable for all of the seasoning used in other places.
How do you do your beets?
(If you don’t have experience eating beets, in some people urine turns red after eating, which can be alarming at first. Poop too. I have read that this color changing phenomena can be used as a test to measure how fast food moves through your digestive system.)
