Just Beet It (Tantré Farm Week 4)

Beets, beets, the musical root, the more you eat, the more you...wait a minute...wrong plant.

Yes, this was the first week beets were included in my farm share box. Having never once eaten beets in my entire life (as far as I know), I had no preconceived prejudice against their taste; indeed, the only things I knew of beets were 1) the pickled and canned ones look kind of gross and 2) their juice will stain everything. More on that in a bit.

I saw, somewhere, a recipe for a roasted beet and goat cheese salad. I can get behind anything that involves goat cheese. I couldn't remember where I had seen said recipe, but a search of the food blogs in my Google Reader lineup yielded this recipe from 64 Square Ft Kitchen. It wasn't the exact one I had my vague memory of, but looked even better. How can you go wrong with roasted shallots, toasted almonds and a honey-lemon juice dressing? I also decided to whip up a quick side dish of wilted beet greens with sesame seeds. Might as well eat the whole beet, right?

Beets and shallots and olive oil, oh my! (And don't forget the salt and pepper!)

Trying to stay loyal to the local!

Can this really be called a salad? I could have eaten this delicious dish as my entire meal.

As for the beet greens:

Washed

Chopped

And sautéed.

Sesame Beet Greens (recipe from the Tantré Farm Week 3 Newsletter or Learning to Eat Locally):

• Greens from 4 to 6 beets, cut off 1 inch from root
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
  

Rinse and dry beet greens. Slice them across the stem into 1-inch strips. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, sesame seeds, and about half of the greens. Add soy sauce and the rest of the greens. Cook, stirring, until greens have wilted and stems are tender, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Now, back to my observation that beet juice will stain everything. And I do mean everything. I managed to avoid getting beet juice on me (a miracle) or anything else on Monday night, the night I made the salad. However...this morning after my run...when I used the bathroom...well, let's just say if I didn't know I had eaten beets recently, I would have thought I was undergoing a catastrophic internal hemorrhage.

You learn something new every day!