Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook as we continue our appreciation of beets! So glad you’re here!
This week, I’m continuing my celebration of all things beets. Whether shredded and eaten raw in salads, roasted as a side dish, pickled for a yummy snack or a crudités platter, or made into soup, beets are a versatile and healthy treat.
In some ways, beets have had to overcome some kind of “iffy” press over the years–be it from Dwight Schrute from “The Office,” and his obsession with beets, or “Doug” the animated TV series and his rock band “The Beets.” Over the years, I have gotten some peculiar looks when I express my profound love for them.
But beets are one of Mother Nature’s best ideas! Not only are they sweet and delicious, as I outlined in my last post, but they’re also really good for you, being chock full of good vitamins and minerals, not to mention anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants. And beet greens are even better for you! For more detailed information, you can click here to check out my last post on beets.
Naturally, the easiest thing to do with beets is to clean and peel them, and then to shred them into a salad.
The next easiest preparation for beets is roasting them. There are several methods out there for roasting, but the one I find the easiest is to peel them first, quarter them and then roast them in a casserole dish lined with aluminum foil.
But this leads me to discuss the only minor downside of working with red beets: the staining factor. Be aware that beets WILL stain some things if you’re not careful–no fair asking me how I know 😉 I always wear old tee shirts and an apron when I’m working with them, and I also line casserole dishes with non-stick aluminum foil. Casserole dishes will clean up with some effort, but lining the pan makes for easy clean-up, which is why I recommend it.
In season, I usually get 2-3 bunches at the market each week, and roast them up right away for use for the rest of the week. Roasted beets will intensify the already earthy sweetness of the beets. They are great in salads or as a side dish, and roasting the beets is the first step to the next couple of recipes I’ll share this week, namely pickled beets and beet soup.
Until then,
Peace, love and good food!
Keri
