This has been one of my favorite snacks lately: multi-grain bread with goat cheese (chevre… the spreadable kind), scallions, and thinly sliced roasted beets (with a little drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper).
I usually roast a whole tray of beets at a time (wrap in foil with olive oil and a bit of vinegar, and roast for an hour or two in a 425-degree oven), then spend what feels like an hour or two rubbing the skins off with disposable glove-clad hands. I keep the peeled beets in the fridge and slice them whenever I need them.
By the way, if your pee turns red after eating some beets, don’t freak out. It’s just the intense beet pigments. You probably are not dying. You are among the 10 to 14 percent of the population with beeturia. Note that it doesn’t always happen consistently, and may depend on the conditions (pH, gut flora activity) in your stomach and small intestine, as well as iron absorption.
I used to groan at all the beets our CSA “unloaded” on us every fall. They took forever to cook, stained hands and cutting boards magenta, and there was only so much red flannel hash I could handle (eventually I made a cold borscht).
Well, I’ve finally come around. I may never tire of these beets. I’ve learned that bacon is not their only flavor affinity. These days, I roast about 6 to 8 beets at a time in my toaster oven (instructional video here*), then peel them, slice them, and marinate them with thin slices of red onion, white balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and a little bit of olive oil. They’re great tossed into salads, or simply on their own. Pictured: green leaf lettuce with marinated beets, apples, gorgonzola, and walnuts.
*The video says to roast the beets at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, but I usually go way beyond that (425 degrees for 90 minutes or more). In my experience you can never over-roast these things. Another tip: let them cool in the sealed foil packet for several hours. The steam will help loosen the skins for easy peeling.
