Sunday, June 24, 2012

Roasted Beets With Beet Greens

Roasted Beets With Beet Greens



Today was the first day of our local farmer's market. I missed most of last year's market because Brennis was at home recovering from his surgery and two years ago I wouldn't have known a beet from a turnip so I just never went. So...this year I've decided to make up for lost time.

Yesterday I opened up an old can of beets and added it to my Confetti Salad for a change. I had forgotten how much I loved beets but I wasn't crazy about the added salt in the canned version. So I got two bunches of beets this morning at the farmer's market, googled some recipes and made this tonight. It was a huge success. The beet greens are kind of "earthy" tasting at first but have a really nice rich taste....very similar to Swiss chard. They make a beautiful colorful presentation with the bright red roasted beets. Something totally different for me and I'll revisit this recipe again and again.

2 bunches beets with greens
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar



Remove the beets from their stems, cut the tips off (if necessary) and clean thoroughly. I had about 8 medium sized beets. You can drizzle the beets with a little bit of olive oil but I didn't. Wrap the cleaned beets in an aluminum foil packet and seal tightly. Roast the beets in the sealed packed at 350 degrees until a knife goes easily into the largest beet. This took about an hour an fifteen minutes for me but check after 45 minutes to one hour since so much depends on your oven and the beets themselves.

While the beets are roasting remove the green beet leaves from the stems and clean them thoroughly. Chop the beet greens roughly. You will have a large amount of greens but like most greens these will cook down considerably.

In a medium saute pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute an onion in the oil for about two minutes and then add the garlic. Saute the garlic for two more minutes and add the cleaned and chopped beet greens. Stir the greens to heat them through and then cook, stirring occasionally, until done (about 5 minutes). Turn off the heat and add fresh black pepper and red wine vinegar and stir.

When the beets are done allow them to cool enough so that you can peel them. The peels come off easily when they are roasted. Chop the peeled beets and mix into the cooked beet greens. Add only as many beets as you want to the greens. Two or three are more than enough and save the remaining beets for another dish!

These would also be great with some slivered almonds added for a little crunch!

Eat and enjoy!

Note: Since this was my first time cooking beet greens I played it safe and used olive oil. You could easily saute everything using water and/or vegetable broth and make this fat free.

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