I have an abundance of beets. Thus far I've juiced them & used them in many different sorts of desserts. I want to make something on the savory side but I'm not sure what. Looking for suggestions & recipes. Something more complex & original than 'salad'.
Omigosh. I just had my first beet of my life this year. (I'm 33.) And I completely fell in love. I've been doing all sorts of things with them. You can peel, cut them up, and toss them with olive oil and salt and pepper and roast them in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes. (I do this with several other root veggies and it is good.) My family doesn't love beets but they'll eat just about anything smothered in blue cheese dressing at the end, so add that. It's good. You can bake them like a normal potato and add butter salt and pepper and they are pretty good that way. You can also endeavor to make borscht should you feel adventurous. I don't pickle them myself, but I Like them pickled on salads. I actually just bought canned beets the other day... going to try them on a salad. If you need more ideas just go to pinterest.
Do you think I can do a mashed potato style situation with beets? I imagine it would be a similar texture if I run it through a ricer. Just unsure of how to use the sweetness & not mask it. The blue cheese might be a good way to do that.
Well, there's always borscht. I can't say I'm crazy about it, but I know a lot of people are. If it was up to me, though, I'd pickle those suckers and have them around for salads and sides for the rest of the year. I've never pickled beets, but they can't be any harder than pickling anything else.
Yep, that was definitely high on my list of considerations. The truth is I doubt I can incorporate such a huge amount without losing a few to time unless I do pickle them. I can see pickled beets losing their appeal quickly as well. Tough one.
Oh, I don't know. Pickled beets are good tucked in as a side in so many places; and they're pretty as well and make a nice garnish. Plus, they're pickled so you don't have to worry about them going bad for a long while after you've opened the jar.
I make a nice burger with beets, carrots and potatoes. The vegetables are grated, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, basil, major am, and sage, then add flour or bread crumbs and cornmeal, oil and form your burgers. You can cook them in the oven or the skillet. Just use mostly beets, and more carrots than potatoes.
I ended up incorporating them in some mashed potatoes & they came out delicious! I also used a homemade blue cheese dressing mixed into the mash & it really put it over the top. Thanks for all the suggestions. I will end up pickling some as well as trying that burger.
I've only recently started attempting to cook them fresh - but they can be tricky, particularly the red ones, because they stain pretty much everything within an arms reach. No matter how careful you are, I would not recommend wearing good clothes, particularly white or light colored clothes, when handling these. Also, keep your "good" towels away from them too. I've boiled them and roasted them, and if I was going to make them fresh again, I would probably stick to boiling them because it seemed a bit faster and it drew out some of the excess dye in them. As for how I like to prepare them, usually just marinated in a simple vinaigrette along with some toasted walnuts, and maybe some goat cheese (especially herbed goat cheese!) if I have that on hand. The typical vinaigrette I make is just cider vinegar, canola oil, sugar (or honey), salt and pepper - all to taste.
