Sunday, July 24, 2011

What to Do with Beets

One easy option is to cook beets ahead of time and then cube them and keep them in the fridge, either to toss in salads through the week, or to combine with feta and a little vinaigrette. Preparing them is easy: just scrub them with a veggie brush and then wrap them in foil and roast them at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour or until they are tender. Once they are cool, the skins rub right off. In this heat it can be hard to turn on the oven, so instead you can boil them in salted water for 30-45 minutes or until tender. Again when cool, the skins rub right off.

Another alternative is to simply peel the beets (uncooked), and then slice them really thin and put them right into salads - raw. You can do this with a peeler or grater. It’s a very easy way to use beets without having to use the oven to roast or bake, nor do you have to turn on the stove. Very fast and very tasty!

4 comments:

tofugirl said...

Another hot weather tip for beets, if you own a rice cooker--you can steam them with an inch of water in the cooker and the beets sitting on a rack. I like them better roasted, but I also like my apartment not to be 100 degrees :)

Anonymous said...

Or fry some onions, slice the beets and any other CSA veggie you don't know what to do with, add them to the onions; add water and a bouillon cube, cook on low heat for about half an hour; cool and put in blender. You get a great borscht-like summer soup.

chechak said...

or grate in the food processor and sautee with grated carrots for a few minutes until done. You may use onion and even garlic if you like. Spice as you like. I sautee some corriander seeds, add the grated vegetables, and stir in some mustard and curry powder when it's almost done.

or slice and cook in the pressure cooker for about 5 minutes in a mixture of one part water/one part vinegar, with sweetner added to your taste. If you use the pressure cooker you don't even have to peel them. Stir in some chopped fresh herbs (whatever comes with the share that week) when it's done.

Lucia D said...

If you've got a juicer, they taste great as juice as well!