Beeting the drum

[Jenise]

How do you cook your beets? I mean, when are they DONE?

I'm still learning. I like beets more than I think I do. That is, I grew up despising them based on the canned variety, and I now like them quite a bit when fresh and well-prepared. But I tend to forget the latter the longer I go between beetings, if you will, and I rarely think to cook them outside of summer when they're available fresh and frisky with greens attached.

On Sunday I was shopping for salad ingredients--we'd been invited to dinner and were to bring a salad course--and Bob was with me. "Why not do something with beets?," Bob said. "I love it when you use them in a salad." Well, this was news! I honestly had not noticed that he had grown so fond of them. So I bought two tennis ball sized beets and a few handfulls of baby romaine.

I figured I'd just cook and dice them, then marinate the dice in a vinaigrette and serve them atop the greens along with some spidery cabbage leaves from my garden, all of which would be dressed separate from the beets with a mustard/olive oil/vinegar dressing. Some shaved hard-cooked egg would be the final garnish. So into a pan of boiling water the beets went, and about 20 minutes later I removed them without piercing them with a fork like I usually do to determine doneness. Turns out the beets were so underdone that I had to use a knife to peel the skin off.

So I cut off a piece to taste just how underdone they were, and it was crunchy but interestingly so. In fact, it dawned on me when I bit into it that I'm used to beets being softer and I don't especially like that texture. Not quite a Eureka! moment, but close.

So I went with it, dicing the beets and dousing them with light olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and two big cloves of minced garlic, and they sat around for a few hours before being hustled off to Lynette's in a small container. When I went to assemble my salad, Lynette gave me one of those stricken, shot-in-the-heart looks that said she was definitely not a beet fan. What about Jeff, I asked? She didn't know--since she didn't like them, she'd never served them, but most likely not. To be polite I said let's just serve the beets in a separate bowl to be passed, and to be polite Lynette who knew I was planning to compose the salad cuz that's what I do, suggested I just put a small scoop on the side.

I did. And both she and Jeff ate every little piece of beet on their plate, raving. Turns out that, so far as they knew, neither had ever eaten a fresh beet. Their dislike was based on the canned beets they were tortured by in their childhoods. They specifically mentioned the texture of these and the earthier, less-sweet taste. And Jeff noted how well they married the salad to the two California pinots he was serving--there was an 05 Foley on the table but the best match was the 05 Hitching Post which had a matching earthiness about it.

Anyway, not only did I convert friends, I kind of converted myself by finally figuring out that what is undercooked, by the book, is perfectly cooked for me.

We tend to roast ours until you can get a fork into them. Haven't tried taking them out before they were "done", though - sounds pretty interesting. I have a couple from my CSA supplier sitting behind me as I type this, so maybe they'll get a bit less time in the oven when I cook them up.

Mike

You don't have to cook them Jenise, you can have them raw. Nice to have a grated beet and orange salad with a dollop of Greek yoghurt - or goats yoghurt is good if you can get it.

I also grate and saute in a little butter - its cooks very quickly this way. then you can add orange segments afterwards.

If you microwave,then you can grate and microwave without any additional liquid in a small covered glass dish. I also sometimes do carrots this way. You have to be careful not to overcook, though, as it will dry out. Then mix in butter and salt and pepper afterward.

I also have a favourite recipe that I developed last year to match to a pinot noir (source article). I roast (or microwave*) a whole unpeeled beetroot with a bit of the stalk bits left on it to stop the juice bleeding out - cooking time depends on size. Let cool a bit. Then cut off top, peel and cut beetroot into wedges.

In a small frying pan melt about 1 teaspoon of butter (more if you are decadent) and saute the beetroot wedges until heated through. Now add 1 teaspoon of Mango Balsam, a delicious sweet yet sharp tangy vinegar made from "Carabao" mangos which come from the Philippine Isle of Cebu. Keep shaking the pan and turning the beetroot wedges to make sure they get totally covered with this delicious balsam. Now add a teaspoon of tawny port and continue to shake so the beetroot gets covered with all the delicious juices. They will be ready to serve at this stage but to take the dish one step further add a couple of handfuls of washed New Zealand native spinach leaves (not sure what your equivalent is) to wilt down on the lowest heat. If it all gets too dry, then add a dash of water.

The result is a delicious earthy tangy dish offset by the natural sweetness of the beetroot, the mango in the balsam and the port.

And it goes beautifully with a reasonably complex Marlborough pinot noir.

Cheers,
Sue

* I usually microwave the beetroot in a baking paper lined glass casserole dish for 5 minutes then turn and microwave 5 minutes more. I like the beetroot the size of a cricket ball, which is smaller than a baseball, probably about the size of a tennis ball.

[Jenise]

Sue, yes, I've tasted them raw, and I like that too (I like almost every vegetable raw), but for my tastes partially cooked as I did here is better than raw--the flavor's a bit more developed, a bit richer than completely raw.

What a delicious dish you describe, with the spinach and port. Sounds fantastic. You have me wondering what your native spinach is like. Is it curly? I've had curly native spinaches in Europe and they're amazing. Here in the States, there's apparently some curly spinach in the northeast but here on the left coast, it's all flat (which isn't half as interesting).

Thank you for that story Jenise. I too have only had beets well cooked (and grew up with the canned ones...blech!). I never even thought to partially cook them. I will certainly give it a try...you might have another convert on your hands!

Oops - what I call NZ native spinach may or may not be native to NZ I've found now that I've done some research, as it was originally found in both Australia and NZ, and the Aussies call it 'native' too.
It has small flat dull triangular shaped leaves, not curly and shiny like silverbeet. Captain Cook first found it growing in NZ and he and his crew ate it as a cure for scurvy. Then Joseph Banks took it to the Kew Gardens in England and it spread to Europe and North America from there. The botanic name is Tetragonia tetragonoides, the Maori name is kokihi and the Aussies call it Botany Bay spinach or Warrigal Greens. It's making a comeback in Aus as bush tucker.
Click here for a pic.

Speaking of Oz, as Sue was, the last time there (circa 1976) hamburgers routinely came with a large slice of beet instead of a slice of tomato.

Hey, we still get beets on burgers. McDonalds even has what they call a Kiwi Burger that is a quarter pounder with an egg, salad and a slice of beetroot, and I'm sure there would be something similar in Aus. Let's see.
Yep, they have a McOz, evidently like a McFeast with beetroot and fried onions while Hungry Jacks has a more traditional down under burger with a meat patty, tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese, bacon, beetroot, egg and tomato sauce.

Got to have beetroot on the burger if I make them at home.

I first tasted NZ spinach when I was a kid. My aunt (a gourmet, ahead of her time) grew this lovely veggie in Eureka, CA, a small coastal town in No. CA. I loved it. It is vine like, spreading over the spring and summer all over the garden. I have it in my garden and each year it comes up, a little bit at first and then spreading. I've never had it raw because the leaves seem to call for cooking. I love the flavor.
Have you had it uncooked?

Have you had it uncooked?

Yes -occasionally throw a few leaves into salad greens. But it's finishing up as summer starts, which is when we eat lots of salads, so we mostly cook it or wilt it.

Oops - what I call NZ native spinach may or may not be native to NZ I've found now that I've done some research, as it was originally found in both Australia and NZ, and the Aussies call it 'native' too.
It has small flat dull triangular shaped leaves, not curly and shiny like silverbeet. Captain Cook first found it growing in NZ and he and his crew ate it as a cure for scurvy. Then Joseph Banks took it to the Kew Gardens in England and it spread to Europe and North America from there. The botanic name is Tetragonia tetragonoides, the Maori name is kokihi and the Aussies call it Botany Bay spinach or Warrigal Greens. It's making a comeback in Aus as bush tucker.
Click here for a pic.

Sue,

That looks very similar to a weed I forage for in NJ, USA called Lamb's Quarters which is also related to spinach. Here's a pic

That is really interesting about the beetroot on your hamburgers!