Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese
Until about a year ago, when I heard someone mention beets, I immediately began thinking of pickled beets. For some, that is a good thing. For me, I wanted to break out in hives. I HATE PICKLED BEETS and all that goes along with it!! Yuck! At some point though, I saw or read about people roasting beets and how good they were (and how good they are for you!). Well, I’m pretty darn open-minded when it comes to eating different foods, so I decided to try them. Wow! What a difference a cooking method can make. Seriously, these roasted beets with goat cheese are the bomb and they are so ‘sophisticated’ (said with a slight English accent and my nose turned up).
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: Prep Time – 5 min; Cook Time – 45 min-1 hour
Ingredients:
Fresh whole beets with or without greens attached (I don’t know how many for you, it depends on the size of the beet and the number of people. Lately, my store has had these colossal sized beets which is more than enough for 1-2 people. If yours are regular sized, then count on 1-2 beets per person.)
Olive oil to coat
Salt and Pepper
1/2 clove of garlic for each beet (will be used to sauté the greens if you choose to do so)
Goat cheese (about 1-2 oz’s per beet)
1/2 lemon
Special Equipment and Other Items Needed:
Aluminum Foil
If you want them smoked – check out this site for great gas smokers and more
Preparing Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese:
Set oven temperature to 400 degrees.
Wash the beets and cut off the greens. Set the greens aside as we will sauté those as well (optional). Place the beets on a sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle the beets generously with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Loosely wrap the aluminum foil. A lot of recipes call for you to wrap them completely and I generally do that in the oven. But, if I am going to smoke them, then I can’t wrap them completely and get any good smoky flavor. So, I like to wrap them loosely or not at all when I put them on the grill.
The beets will take about 45 mins – 1 hour to cook. You’ll know when they are done because you can insert a knife relatively easily into the beet (It would be about the same consistency as a potato just a few minutes before it is done for mashing – slightly firm).
When they are done, unwrap them and let cool slightly until you can handle them (while you wait, prepare the beet greens).
Using a paper towel or plastic bag to protect your hands, peel the outer skin off the beet. Slice or quarter or cut however you like.
Sprinkle the platter with goat cheese.
Prepare the Beet Greens
Yes, you can eat beet greens and they are delicious just lightly sauteed. Use the greens from the beets you cut away earlier. Mince your garlic and chop your beet green tops. Place in a skillet with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Don’t cook them until your beets are out of the oven and resting. You can get your serving platter out though.
When the beets are done and cooling, you can quickly sauté the beet greens. Turn the skillet on medium-high heat and sauté for 3-5 minutes until wilted. Place on the platter and squeeze a touch of fresh lemon juice on top.
“I’m with Melissa on the pickled beets, but this I will have to try. It looks delicious!” -Denise
Smoked Beets
If you want to smoke the beets instead of roast them, then essentially follow all the same steps but with the following changes:
1 – loosely wrap the beets in aluminum foil
2 – prepare your smoker for indirect heat but at a temperature around 400 degrees
3 – smoke until tender and follow remaining steps for the greens, cooling, peeling, and slicing the beets.
This was seriously the best recipe read that I’ve ever enjoyed. I was just perusing for a Beet recipe hoping to find one I’d like, but the verbage, personable word choice and energy of the banter is what left me reading. I’m going to be following you for more now.