Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze

Fall and winter mean root vegetables. Sometimes you just can't think of another way to make beets. That's where this recipe comes in handy. It's a great side or an addition to a fall salad.

Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze via Serious Eats:

Serves 4

6 medium beets (2 bunches, or about 3½ lb.)

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 Tb. extra virgin olive oil

1/3 c. inexpensive balsamic vinegar

1 Tb. maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Remove the leafy stems and roots of the beets and peel each one with a vegetable peeler. Cut the beets in 1 1/2-inch chunks. Place the cut beets on the prepared baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and salt. Roast for until the beets are tender when pierced with a thin-bladed knife, 35 to 40 minutes, tossing once with a spatula midway through.

Meanwhile, combine the vinegar and maple syrup in a small skillet. Cook over medium heat until the liquid is reduced by about half (it should lightly coat the back of a metal spoon). Pay close attention and be sure not to over-reduce it; it goes from sweet and syrupy to burnt and hard very quickly. Toss the glaze with the roasted beets and chill until ready to serve.

Easy!

30 Before 30: Pretty Beets and Carrots (#21)

Beets are wearing me out. I love them, but I've gotten so many through my CSA, I'm not sure how many more I can eat. Fortunately I found another recipe to deal with them and it is pretty darn delicious. It works in the place of slaw as well as salad, so feel free to throw it on a sandwich. Just drain it a bit first or you may end up with purple hands. I skipped the lettuce and the arrangement and just mixed it all together.

Pretty Beets and Carrots via Moosewood Restaurant New Classics:

Serves 4

1 large red beet, peeled

1 large carrot, peeled

1 walnut-sized piece of fresh ginger root

2 Tb. vegetable oil

3 Tb. cider vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

¼ c. minced scallions

6 green or red lettuce leaves (optional)

Coarsely grate the beet and then the carrot to yield about 1½ cups of each. Place in separate bowls and set aside.

Grate the ginger finely and combine it with the oil, vinegar, and garlic. Toss the beets in half the dressing and add salt and pepper to taste. Mix together the scallions, carrots, and the remaining dressing. Add salt and pepper, if you like.

Arrange the lettuce on a platter, mound the carrot mixture in the center, and spoon the beets around it. Or just mix it all up. Depends on how you want to present it, really.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

I love the faux pickled flavor of this dish and how quickly you can create it, especially if you have a grater attachment for a food processor.

Recipes Complete: 21

Recipes to Go: 9

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht

Soup is crazy perfect right now and by right now I mean all of the time. This recipe, though, is even more perfect than perfect because it uses root veg and fills your house with delicious aromas. If you get a CSA like me, you might also be drowning (or just completely sick of) beets. Here's one more way to try them before you just start using them to play fetch with your dog. I won't judge you either way. I added dill thanks to the comments. Beets + dill = of course. If you use veggie stock and either a sour cream replacement (or omit it entirely), you've got yourself a BA vegan soup.

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht via Serious Eats:

Serves 4

2 lb. red beets (about 5 medium), scrubbed, peeled, and cut into a medium dice (your hands will be bright red. It will be funny for about 2 minutes)
1 lb. russet potatoes (about 2 medium), peeled and cut into a medium dice
2 shallots, coarsely chopped
3 to 5 sprigs fresh dill
2 Tb. olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 c. broth (chicken or richly flavored veg)
1 Tb. red wine vinegar
Sour cream

Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss vegetables in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and tuck sprigs of dill in amongst the vegetables. Roast until tender, about 45 minutes. Set dill aside.

Bring the broth to a simmer in a large saucepot and add the cooked vegetables. Mash roughly with a potato masher or wooden spoon, add the vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper and more vinegar if needed. Serve in bowls topped with a dollop of sour cream and the crushed dill from the baking.

Warm and inviting and really easy. You'll look like you slaved so hard over dinner.

Beet Hummus

I had this whole plan to do some things to eat in hot weather, but you need to have cool weather beforehand to make it. Yes, I had a plan even though I haven't posted since June. But it's all super hot again. If you can stand to put the oven on for a bit, say early in the AM or later in the eve, you can have super tasty treats when it just gets so hot that even looking at the oven is too much.

This beet hummus was one of the very first things I starred in my reader. I'm glad I finally got to it. My version was not as vibrant as the original, but I also ended up using candy cane beets that were in my CSA. Still, this is fun, fairly easy, and perfect with cool slices of carrot and cucumber. And crackers. And pita chips.

Beet Hummus from Simply Recipes:

Makes 2 cups.

½ lb. beets (about 4 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled, and cubed

2 Tb. tahini sesame seed paste

5 Tb. lemon juice

1 small clove garlic, chopped (I did more like 3)

1 Tb. ground cumin

1 Tb. lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)

Generous pinch of sea salt or Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

To cook the beets, cut off any tops, scrub the roots clean, put them in a covered dish with about ¼-inch of water in a 375°F oven, and cook until easily penetrated with a knife or fork.

Place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients as desired.

Chill and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage.

This tastes kind of like salsa and hummus got together and made a delicious snack baby.

Beet and Ricotta Gnocchi

Aaron and I recently started splitting a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box with our friends Corey and Brian. Most of it hasn’t put out a lot of surprises (I know what to do with apples. It involves eating them), we recently got a couple of beets. Fortunately for me, I still star a million things in my reader and this recipe came up not too long before the box did. Et voila! Something new and different and fun.

Beet and Ricotta Gnocchi from Dixie Caviar:

Serves 2 with leftovers

1 medium or two small red beets, washed

1 lb. whole milk ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 c. grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for the table

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2/3 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dredging

8 Tb. (1 stick) unsalted butter

Fresh sage leaves

Place a cheese cloth-lined colander over a bowl and drain the ricotta overnight, or up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and place on baking sheet. Bake until tender, approximately 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, open aluminum foil and let beets cool. Slip the skins off with your hands. Your hands will turn pink. Don’t worry, they’ll just get pinker with the next step. Grate the beets into a mixing bowl on the large hole of a box grater. Add the ricotta, eggs, Parmesan cheese, and salt and freshly ground black pepper to the beets. Mix well with a whisk or wooden spoon. Add 2/3 cup flour to the ricotta mixture and whisk together to mix. Set the mixture aside for a minimum of 2 hours in the refrigerator. Can be made up to two days ahead. Wash your hands…for now they will be unpink.

Use a spring form scoop to measure out the dough. Or just grab some hunks. Use your palms to form dough balls about the size of a ping pong ball. Roll the ball into a bowl of flour, carefully turning to lightly coat all sides, tapping off any excess. Lay each dumpling on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I skipped this step and just lined them up on my cutting board. Continue forming the gnocchi until all the mixture is gone.

Add the dough balls into a pot of gently simmering salted water and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove them from the water as they are done and place them on a platter. Use a paper towel to soak up any excess water.

Meanwhile, melt the butter together with the sage leaves in a skillet over medium heat. Let the butter lightly brown and the sage leaves become nice and crispy, about 10 minutes. Add the cooked gnocchi to the skillet and toss with the butter to warm them up a bit. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Serve immediately with fresh Parmesan for grating.

These are really, really interesting. Even if you’re not a huge beet lover, I’d give these a try. They add an earthy flavor to gnocchi and make for a really fun and colorful dish.