BEETSSeason: year-round
Taste: sweet
Function: heating
Weight: medium
Volume: moderate
Techniques: bake, boil, carpaccio, chips, roast, soup, steam
Beets don't exactly scream summer. Or fun, really. I was reintroduced to them recently though and I really really liked them. They were roasted in a pocket of parchment paper with hazelnuts and maybe some dill. After being taken out of the oven, the pocket is opened just enough to drop in a big dollop of creme fraiche (aka sour cream). You open up the packet and the beets are this really deep purply red and they're sweet! and the cream adds creaminess and the nuts nuttiness.
I guess when I was 5 and my grandma's presence at the table necessitated the inclusion of beets on the menu for the night, I hadn't appreciated the complex sweetness of the beet. It's a not cloying sweetness that makes the beet a natural addition to savory dishes. It can be eaten hot from the oven in the fall or winter or served chilled as something refreshing in the summer. The fact that it's a root vegetable makes it pretty much the same in terms of freshness all year round.
Pot pie with beets, apples, walnuts, tarragon, and some kind of creaminess (creme fraiche would probly be the mildest. or you could use goat cheese or sour cream or brie!)
Don't know exactly the steps to making pot pie, but I suppose we'd have to make a nice flaky pie crust first. It'd be good i think to roast the beets and nuts and apples ( i think you could use pears instead if you wanted) a little first and bake the bottom crust a bit first, then put it all together. I think this sounds pretty good as an autumn dinner.
Do you like beets?
Did/do your grandparents eat beets?
Do you think beets could be the new "it" ingredient that every cosmopolitan restaurant has to have on its menu?
Do you prefer beets in the winter or summer? Or the fall or spring?
Are you like Lillie and refuse to eat beets?
Did you watch Doug?
I'm not like Lillie - I don't refuse to eat beets. In fact, I remember trying the beets, steaming in the parchment. I remember trying them and thinking, I wish these tasted better; the flavors are quite posh, but the beets really fall short here.
ReplyDeleteI loved The Beets! really brings me back.
And the recipe sounds just Awesome! I think it would be important to have the beets and the apples having the same soft texture, so you'd probably have to cook the beets for a little bit before adding the apples?
With the creaminess factor (yum), it would be nice to make the same kind of gravy for the insides, using that ingredient. Maybe you could make a roux and then add the creme fraiche with some broth? The broth might add some savoriness as well, which would be a good contrast.
My very earliest memory is sitting at my tiny table in Nursery School and looking down unhappily at a plate with beets. The beet juice was running all over the plate, to my distress. Perhaps that is why I picked up the plate and threw it as far as I could, which is not too far when you are 4. Timeout time! I still dislike beets, and yes, I have thrown one or two plates across the room when I see them there. Please cook two recipes: one with beets and one without. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI read about Beets in the Zingerman's news today during dinner, and it mentioned that to grow healthy and ...strong?? they need to be in cool earth. That's not at all related to anything, but I was excited that there was an article about beets!! They must be a new exciting food trend if Zingerman's is writing about them, right?
ReplyDeleteRe: potpie with beets.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid the gravy holding the ingredients together is going to turn bright magenta as the pies cook. That may surprise (or horrify) the unsuspecting.