I really love beets, except for the part where they stain everything purpley-red. But otherwise, they make a great warm or cold salad! Many people don't seem to realize this, but beet stems and greens can also be eaten...don't throw that stuff away! I use the whole beet, stems and all, in my beet salad. The stems have the texture and taste of celery and the greens taste kind of like spinach or swiss chard. Cook it all up, throw in some goat cheese and maybe some bacon (if you're into that kind of thing), and you've got yourself a great side dish for any season!
I should warn you that I did not do a good job of making this dish look pretty. Mistakes were made, and I accept that. So, apologies for the lack of nice pictures.
On another note, beets are weirdly deceptive. I picked up a medium sized one and a slightly smaller one and somehow ended up with way too much beet salad. Like 5 servings worth or so, depending on how much you can handle in one sitting. It was crazy.
Okay, enough side talk!
First, I chopped off the stems about an inch above the beet (to avoid cutting directly into the beet to minimize the amount of beet juice stains). I rinsed the stems and greens and put them aside. Then I scrubbed the dirt off the beets, and by scrub I mean massage them a bit under running water. You'll peel the skin off later, so it's not a big deal to get them super clean! I rubbed some olive oil, salt, and pepper over each beet and wrapped them loosely in tinfoil. Finally, I stuck them in a 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, until easily pierced with a fork.
On another note, beets are weirdly deceptive. I picked up a medium sized one and a slightly smaller one and somehow ended up with way too much beet salad. Like 5 servings worth or so, depending on how much you can handle in one sitting. It was crazy.
Okay, enough side talk!
First, I chopped off the stems about an inch above the beet (to avoid cutting directly into the beet to minimize the amount of beet juice stains). I rinsed the stems and greens and put them aside. Then I scrubbed the dirt off the beets, and by scrub I mean massage them a bit under running water. You'll peel the skin off later, so it's not a big deal to get them super clean! I rubbed some olive oil, salt, and pepper over each beet and wrapped them loosely in tinfoil. Finally, I stuck them in a 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, until easily pierced with a fork.
I had also picked up some chicken to go with the beet salad, so I started working on that next. I'm not going to talk much about this chicken because for some dumb reason (*cough* $4 cheaper than everything else) I decided to buy chicken gizzards and hearts. Don't get me wrong, it was dirt cheap and reasonably tasty, but for the sake of texture I'll be getting my usual drumsticks and thighs next time. For the curious, I rubbed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, honey, and teriyaki sauce, and put them in the oven with the beets for 20 minutes.
I didn't do anything super fancy with the stems and greens. A lot of recipes out there call for garlic and chicken stock and all that nonsense, but I'm lazy and didn't think it would make much of a difference, and you know what? It didn't.
I separated the stems from the greens and chopped it all up. Then I basically heated up some oil in a pan, threw in the stems until they softened, then put in the greens to wilt down. See, cooking is so simple and easy when you're lazy! If you did decide to put bacon in the salad, you could cook this in the leftover bacon fat instead of using oil. Yum :)
I separated the stems from the greens and chopped it all up. Then I basically heated up some oil in a pan, threw in the stems until they softened, then put in the greens to wilt down. See, cooking is so simple and easy when you're lazy! If you did decide to put bacon in the salad, you could cook this in the leftover bacon fat instead of using oil. Yum :)
Once the beets were ready, I pulled them out of the oven and let those suckers cool down. Seriously, they get steamy! As soon as I could comfortably handle them I peeled off the skin (slides right off), chopped them up and put them in a bowl with the stems and greens. I definitely made a mistake by keeping the goat cheese out of the fridge and next to all this hot food, because by the time I opened the package it was like a spread and not crumbly at all. At this point though I just said screw it and scooped out a couple creamy spoonfuls to mix in with the salad. Normally you should crumble the goat cheese on top when the beets have cooled down so you can actually distinguish between the flavors, but again, laziness prevailed!
Servings: 4
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 small beets or 1 large beet with stems
- 2 oz. goat cheese
- 2 Tbsp olive or cooking oil
- Salt & pepper
- 2 strips bacon (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut beet stems off, leaving 1/2 - 1 inch of stems attached to the beet.
- Scrub dirt off beets under running water. Rinse the stems and greens and set aside.
- Rub olive oil, salt and pepper over the whole beet and wrap loosely in tinfoil. Place on a cookie sheet or directly in the oven and cook for 45 - 60 minutes, until fork tender.
- Separate the beet stems from the greens. Cut stems into 1 inch pieces and roughly chop the greens.
- (Optional) Cook bacon in a pan. Leave bacon fat in the pan and transfer bacon to a plate to pat with a paper towel. Use the bacon fat to cook the stems and greens in lieu of oil. Chop and put into a bowl.
- Heat some oil in a pan and cook the stems until softened, 2 minutes. Place greens in pan and stir to coat with oil until wilted, 2 minutes. Set aside in a bowl (with the bacon).
- Once beets are cooked, pull out of oven and open the tinfoil to let them cool down. Once cool enough to handle, peel the skin off and chop into 1/2 inch squares. Place into bowl with the greens.
- Stir to mix.
- Once mixture has cooled, crumble goat cheese on top as served.