Our Friend the Beet

Recently, I have learned to love a root vegetable I never thought I would befriend: the beet. My first adult encounter with a beet (because childhood encounters don't count--kids don't like any vegetable) happened at Johnny Harris restaurant, where beets are a regular garnish on house salads. I ate one by mistake, and I discovered I liked it!

Since then, I've been purchasing pickled beets to put on my own salads, or to eat on crackers with a smudge of cream cheese. Yum!

But this week, I learned how to cook my own fresh beets. And I have Farmbox to thank for it. The Farmbox is a great local vegetable co-op administered by the owners of Savannah's Cha Bella restaurant. Each week, the Farmbox folks gather locally grown organic vegetables, and they deliver them right to my door! Each Thursday is like Easter, except with veggies instead of eggs! I never know what's going to appear in my delivery, and I've had to learn how to cook various new vegetables before, like acorn squash, patty pan squash, and beets.

As it turns out, beets are easy. Just wrap them in foil and bake them, just like potatoes. The foil is important, though. Upon receiving my first beets, I realized they really are that red; it's not just the pickle juice that colors them. And when the juice cooks, it can seep out. So the foil is more for oven protection than anything. Once the beets have baked, then I peel them, and they're ready to eat. I ate my first beet like a potato (sans butter and sour cream, of course), but today I looked up a beet recipe on the Weight Watchers site, and I found this tasty dish:

Orange and Beet Arugula Salad
(Although the recipe calls for arugula, I used mixed baby greens--just as yummy)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 cups arugula (or mixed baby greens)
1 orange, pith and peel removed, sliced
1 beet, baked, peeled, cooled, and sliced

In a large bowl, whisk together the OJ, shallots, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Add arugula (or mixed greens) and toss in the dressing. Place dressed greens on a plate and top with sliced beets and orange. If some dressing remains in large bowl, dribble over salad.
What a nice, light dinner. And it's only 4 points (because of the olive oil)!

Stephen is not a big beet fan, but that's okay. More for me.
1 beet, baked, peeled and cooled