July 23, 2009

Roasted Beets and Blue Cheese





[Updated Aug. 11, 2021] Beets in our life is the reason I am most glad that we were CSA members for several years. I still love the concept of a CSA, but we have our own full garden now. And the best reason for the CSA for us personally was that it taught us, as young adults, what things were actually growing right now where we lived-- and now we know. It presented us with surprises every week that were in season, as good as we were ever going to get them, and we had to figure out what to do with them. In the case of beets, we'd both had beets before, but not a lot and never prepared like this. Now, pretty much because of this salad alone, they are a staple in our garden every year.

I think my sister taught me to roast them and serve them this way (see below for details). Once they've roasted until tender, the skins rub off so easily. Then I usually slice the beets with an egg slicer-- works great! We fan out the sliced, cooked, cooled beets and season them with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic glaze (available from the store) or balsamic reduction, and sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese-- and serve the dressed-up beets with lettuce if we have it. Beets are a strong, rich, and earthy in flavor. So is blue cheese. I don't think I'd want a lot of either all by themselves. But together the two seem to perfectly complement each other. Beet and blue cheese salad is a good vegetarian meal with bread on the side, or an absolutely scrumptious side salad to anything, especially red meat. 





Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

1 bunch beets
salad greens
blue cheese
olive oil
balsamic reduction, or just balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Rinse and trim the ends off beets. (I use a plastic cutting board for beets rather than the wooden one where I cut most other vegetables because beets definitely stain.) 

Put them flat-side-down in a heavy cooking pot (I use our smaller Le Creuset). Add water until it's about halfway up the beets. Cover, and roast about 45 minutes-- until they are tender throughout when pierced with a fork. (It will take more or less time depending on how large the beets are.) Remove beets from pan and let cool. 

Once cool, the skin rubs off very easily. (If you haven't prepared them far in advance and need to peel them while they are still hot, you can hold them under rubbing water while removing the skins.) 

Slice peeled beets as desired-- I have found placing the cooked beets on an egg slicer works great! Season beets with salt and pepper, drizzle with balsamic reduction and oil, and sprinkle generously with crumbled blue cheese. Serve with lettuce or as is. 

3 comments:

  1. mmmmm - yum. I wish Jeff wasn't anti-cheese - it cuts out so many fun and simple recipes like this.

    glad you're enjoying your CSA too - isn't it fun? we got beets this week too, and so tonight we're making beet ravioli!

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  2. Not like cheese! I can't imagine such a thing.

    But beet ravioli sounds exciting-- did you stuff the ravioli with beets, or make a beet sauce?

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  3. We got some beets in our CSA bag and tried this recipe out. Fantastic dish,thanks so much.

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