Beets! Bulk, 3", pressure-cooked 30 minutes, cut into strips, drizzled with olive oil and balsalmic vinegar, thanks to Julia Child. I've converted beet-haters with this. I tried grated raw beets a la Clotilde, but didn't like it much.
I'm going to buy some today. I don't have a pressure cooker, but I'll roast them. Whole? 350 degrees about an hour?
They're healthier for you raw, according to the 11 foods article. I tried a modified Mark Bittman recipe last night, for a raw-beet salad, that I thought was quite good (and I really don't like beets, but I had them from our CSA and had just read that article re 11 foods). Basically, grate 4 medium, peeled beets and a peeled kohlrabi (also had that on hand) by pulsing in a food processor. Recipe called for shallots, but I substituted a garlic clove. Also added a medium (spicy!) radish. Grated all. Then made a dressing (lots) with olive oil, double the amount of cider vinegar as oil, a little salt, black pepper, a couple Tbsp of dijon mustard. Chopped up some parsley & tarragon (about 1/4 cup, combined) and added to the salad along w/ the dressing. Let it marinate for a while in fridge. Good, even for beet haters!
Family, did you peel the beets first, or slip the skins off after they cooked? Or eat the skins? (That last seems a dubious proposition, though I think the British chef Jamie Oliver keeps the skins in.) Peeling raw beets is messy--I used plastic gloves to do it.
Kohlrabi. I saw that next to the beets at the store. I didn't buy it, I don't know what to do with it. You eat it raw then?
Kohlrabi's in the broccoli family but is also described as a cross b/tw cabbage (kohl) and turnip (rabe). It's very mild tasting, milder than either cabbage or turnips. It can be peeled & eaten raw if it's youngish & small, or it can be peeled & cooked (steamed, sauteed, grilled, etc) if it's larger or you don't want to eat it raw. It looks like a Sputnik (if any of you are old enough to remember that!). Those stems & leaves that protrude from it can be removed, chopped, and cooked like other greens (eg, like chard, collards, etc.), and then the bulb peeled & cooked separately (or you can cook them all together). Here's a link to a picture & storage tips: http://straightfromthefarm.wordp...hlrabi-storage/
And speaking of beets, here's a recipe for Beet Chocolate Cake, and other beet and veggie recipes: http://straightfromthefarm.wordp...2007/06/page/2/
I like that Clotilde blog, Family! I wonder what it means to "velibe" to and from the greenmarket?
I love beets to provide the color for my chicken potato salad. It takes a few minutes longer to cook it vis-a-vis potatoes.
Cheers!
i think velibe is the new public bicycle system in paris.......in case no one has been able to answer.
Thanks Virginia! No, no one else answered it.
Melinda -- Chocolate beet cake! I've had chocolate sauerkraut cake. And I often add my beet cooking water to bread -- it makes the bread fluffy, but the pink goes away during baking. Mostly.
Great idea about the beet cooking water, Family!
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