The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies.
The beet was Rasputin's favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes." - Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
That said, beets are not only a miraculous dinosaur of the garden, but amazingly good for you - rich in everything, if a vegetable is bright it means it is good for you. The natural nearly florescent nature of the beet makes it wonderful for you.
I'm always looking for a new way to cook beets, but I seem to have my same-old favorites. Either time-tested (pickled over many winters' moons) or freshly roasted on a September day.
Here's my fresh, late summertime favorite:
Ingredients:
A bunch of beets
Garlic
Olive Oil
Fresh thyme
Sea Salt
Goat cheese
Dijon mustard
Red wine vinegar
Clean beets, if needed, scrub them. Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. Place in an aluminum-foiled lined baking dish and cover with more foil. Bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour or until you can roughly pierce a fork through them.
Once done, let rest for 20 minutes, then rinse and peel skins. Chop up in either slices or small pieces (depending if your crowd is beet friendly...they need a slow introduction sometimes). Make a vinaigrette with the mustard, olive oil, red wine vinegar and garlic. Drizzle beets with mixture, add plenty of fresh thyme and sea salt and top with goat cheese. Dish can be served cold or warm (newbies seem to like warm beets opposed to cold beets). Enjoy this farm fresh bloody, fossiled gem from the garden!
Do you have favorite beet recipes to share? Please do! We all need our intake of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. Help our hearts and other muscles with beets!
