Dirt Is A Flavor
Posted by terrepruitt on September 20, 2012
You might have read in my blog I am having an organic box of produce delivered to us. I love it. It is so nice to have produce and not have to go to the store. It is nice to have organic produce. So far I really like this. You might also know that part of the reason I decided to have a box of fruits and vegetables delivered is because I was hoping I would be “forced” to use produce that I normally wouldn’t buy. The last box I received had figs in it. Turns out I am ok with figs. I so enjoyed the salad with figs I had made, I tried to order the next box that had figs but I waited too long. I only have delivery every other week. Farm Fresh To You posts what will be delivered in a week the week before so I had known for a whole week, but I waited until the day before to decide that I actually wanted an additional delivery. It was not enough time for them to do it. So I missed out on another delivery of figs. But . . . in addition to the figs you might have noticed in the picture I posted on the first fig post that I had beets delivered. Now, I KNOW I don’t like beets. I have tried them, and I don’t like them. They taste like dirt. For those of you that don’t know what dirt tastes like, eat a beet and then you will know. So here I was with dirt to deal with. I was wondering, “WHAT DO I DO WITH A BEET?”
In the same conversations I had with people about figs I had asked about beets. One person said to boil them, peel them (the skin will come right off), and then put them in a salad. I think she said she cooks them then uses them as she needs them (within a reasonable amount of time. A couple of days or so.). Another person said she didn’t like beets, so she had no suggestions. Again, I was faced with a salad. That was the only thing I found that sounded remotely appealing. I was thinking I would boil the beets and then put them on a salad with goat cheese. Goat cheese seemed to be what I was finding as the cheese of choice with beets.
But you might have read that I was thinking about making a salad with figs. The recipes I was finding for figs in salads called for feta. But for me, I was thinking that the goat cheese would go better with the figs as it is creamy and mild — almost flavorless. And the feta — which to me is firm and much more flavorful — would go better with the beets. I was thinking the beets needed a strong flavor to help drown out the “dirt” taste.
One recipe I spotted said to roast the beets. Well, heck, why didn’t I think of that? Perhaps you know roasting is my prefered method! Geez, can’t understand why I didn’t think of that. Especially since I mentioned roasting beets in Borscht is Beets! Well, just as I did with the figs I didn’t read the recipes because I thought I could figure it out. I skimmed them and I saw some say, roast on a pan without foil and some say use foil. One recipe said the skin will come right off. Well, it didn’t so much for me, but it turned out ok.
I roasted them until they felt somewhat soft. I think it was at least 50 minutes, but I am not sure because I just kept resetting the timer and would run off to do whatever it was I was doing.
I had roasted the beets with olive oil and salt and a little garlic salt and I have to admit that even though while I was cutting them they smelled like dirt, they didn’t taste overwhelmingly like dirt.
Salad with beets:
mixed greens
pecans
beets (roasted with olive oil, salt, garlic salt — 375 degrees F for about 50 minutes)
feta cheese
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Yay! Another produce item that I had not eaten before and I NEVER would have bought at a store or farmer’s market.
How about you? Do you like beets?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
Michele said
Yay so glad you found your favorite method to cook the beets. I just heard last week that when you roast them the skin is fine to leave on and eat, did you do that or did you peel them? I have more beets, I think I will roast them!
LikeLike
terrepruitt said
Well, silly me didn’t read the recipe and I wasn’t thinking about peeling them. So I checked the recipe after they were cooked and I tried to peel them. Some of the skin came off great, just like people said, but some of it didn’t. As I was peeling them I decided they weren’t cooked enough so I put them back in the oven. Then I tried again when they came out. I got MOST of the skin off and I figured it was ok to eat, because it reminded me of a radish, a carrot, a potato, ya know just another root of which you do eat the skin.
What are you going to do with them after you roast ’em?
LikeLike
michele said
I am thinking that they will be a side dish as is, and I will leave the skin on.
LikeLike
terrepruitt said
Ooo. Just “plain” beets. Do you receive the greens too? Are you gonna eat them?
LikeLike
Angelia Sims said
I love beets! Especially with pepper on my salad. Yum!!
LikeLike
terrepruitt said
Yea, I think beets are one of those things a lot of people LOVE (love, love, love) them and a lot of people DON’T!
LikeLike