Monday, June 4, 2012

Beetific!


sliced beet gratin

It's early beet season here in Wisconsin, and I ate this ridiculously good gratin made with both the beetroot and healthy green tops yesterday (and today) with particular delight. You can read more about it on the Becky-Home-Ecky blog I write on Milwaukee Magazine.

My enthusiasm for all things beety had me thinking about some beet heavy recipes from my past. Bright pink beet pasta, tender Indian spiced beet "chops", whole beet risotto... so much good stuff I've made - and new stuff that I've found to make soon - that I thought a short link list of beetific recipes would certainly in order!

Here are some past favorites:

Beet Pasta (with a shockingly simple Blue Cheese Sauce to eat it with)
Beet Chops
Beet and Beet Green Risotto
Beet Gnocchi
Vegan Beet Stacks with Cashew Ricotta Cheese
Chocolate Beet Cake


chocolate beet cake
I definitely need to make this cake again...

Whenever I see something made with beets, I mentally warehouse it. Here are just a few recent perusals that I should get around to making this year:

Whole Beet and Lemon Galette (Three Clever Sisters)
Maple Horseradish Glazed Beets (LeFort Urban Homestead)
Ginger Spiked Pickled Beets (Food in Jars - the Cookbook)
Beet Ice Cream with Orange Zest and Poppyseeds (CosmoCookie)
Jamie Oliver's Smoked Beets (via Food52)

casa rcakewalk beet escabeche taco
beet escabeche tacos: concocted with roasted beet, leftover rice, canned escabeche...

Regardless of actual recipes, I will remember a favorite technique my friend Elisa was doing a couple Summers ago: roasting beets, then marinating them in a canning jar with a little feta, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, olive oil, salt and pepper. They were ready for salads (or just to pop in my mouth plain from the jar) for up to a week, if I could keep them around my fridge for that long. This Summer, I'm making this a fridge staple once again.

I hardly need inspiration for beets, but sometimes it's good to have a reminder of good, beety things. And sometimes, it's good to share beety ideas with people who actually love beets as much as I do. Do you have a good recipe for me to try? Leave me a link in the comments, and I'll add it to my Summer Beet List!

7 comments:

  1. This was my favorite last time beets were in season for us: http://collectedquotidian.com/2012/02/01/beets-with-dill-and-sea-salt/
    So simple and perfect for picnics.

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    1. Simple is often the best... it looks great, and I will eat some beets this way in your honor!

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  2. You are definitely turning me toward the beet. I want to love it.
    I just went back to read your beet pasta and blue cheese/walnut recipe, which looks like perfection. Then the gratin, next, the cake. I've always thought I could eat beet chocolate cake. If I'm tempted to buy some beets again, maybe they won't wither in my vegetable drawer like so many of their kind already have

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    1. There is so much to love, Susan... and they are so great for you! Hope you find happiness with the beet!

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  3. My dad got me hooked on beets as a kid and I've never looked back! I can just hear him oohing and awing about the taste of pickled beets. Your chocolate beet cake is in my food to make file now, I can only imagine the possible taste.

    Here's my link to a simple yet satisfyingly good beet recipe, a rendition of beets and greens, one of hundreds but it's good!

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  4. I wanted to tell you--I made me and my sister a beet frittata, inspired by your fist picture! Leaves and roots and duck eggs and the end of a carton of ricotta and some fresh tarragon from our herb garden. Great (and very pink) dinner so thanks! I refrigerator pickled some more but am waiting to try them yet.

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    1. Sara that sounds amazing, I planted tarragon for the first time this year, but it's off to a slow start. I can't say I've every really used it before! And, I see duck eggs at the Asian grocery here, but I'm always afraid to buy them - just don't know how fresh they are! But now, I'm thinking I'll raid the little plant and pick up some duck eggs...

      I have since childhood not been such a fan of pickled beets, but I'm considering giving them another go using the recipe in Food in Jars (the cookbook). She enticed me with the ginger :)

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