One day last week I was going to Central Market and Jean was coming for supper, so I was free to cook whatever I wanted. Usually when my family is out and Jean is here, I like to experiment. She’s a good audience for things they won’t touch. But this day I had decided on a sheet pan dinner of spinach, artichoke hearts, and salmon.
The
trip to Central Market changed my mind. Guess what did it? Lovely fresh beets
with beautiful, lush greens attached. I couldn’t resist. But the thought of
salmon and beets in the same pan—or on the same plate—was not appealing. I
repeat this a lot, but my mom always told me food is half eaten with the eye. My
eye was offended at the color combination, so I switched to cod.
Beets
are one of those things that people either love or hate. Jean and I both love
them. Perhaps you mom made Harvard beets, cooking the vegetable in a
sweet-and-sour sauce. Maybe you had canned beets. Maybe you never ate them. Even
if you like them, you may not have ever cooked raw beets.
First
step is to separate the beets from the greens—cut the stems at the beet,
leaving maybe an inch. Rinse the greens and let them drain. Peeling raw beets
is at best an exercise in frustration and at worst, impossible. My mom always
boiled them, and Aunt Reva—that wonderful country cook who taught me so much—showed
me that if you boil them and let them cool until you can handle them, you can
hold them under running cold water and the peel slides right off.
But I
like roast beets better than boiled these days. Scrub the beets thoroughly to
remove any dirt that may cling. Then if you prefer, cut a square of foil for
each beet, coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper—bake at 400
about an hour. Beets are done when you can easily slip a fork into them. For
the sake of simplicity and shrinking my footprint on earth, I omit the foil.
Just coat the beets lightly in olive oil and bake. The bigger the beet, the
longer it takes to cook, so try to get similar sizes. Some recipes suggest
cutting beets into sections for faster cooking, but cutting a raw beet is as difficult
as peeling it. The day I cooked them I had a couple of large beets that took
well over an hour—just keep testing with that fork every few minutes.
Once
they are soft, you can peel and do whatever with them. They are fully cooked at
this point, but my mom used to slice them and put them in a saucepan with a bit
of water and the greens. When the greens wilted, she served them with vinegar.
I prefer lemon and butter—and salt. One warning: cooked beets are juicy and the
juice stains (it is often used as a natural dye). Be careful of wooden cutting
boards, clothes, etc.
Last
week I cut the beets into chunks instead of slicing. Here’s what I did for the
sheet pan supper:
Ingredients:
3 good-sized beets, with
greens (washed)
Olive oil as needed
Lemon butter – about four Tbsp.
butter seasoned to taste
One loin or filet of cod
(about 12 oz.)
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Lay the greens out
on the parchment. Drizzle olive oil over the greens, and sprinkle with salt and
pepper. Cut the cod into serving pieces (I had enough for each of us for supper
and some left for my lunch the next day). Arrange the fish on the greens, and
then place beet chunks artistically between the fish pieces. Season fish with
salt and pepper. Roast at 350 for 20 minutes. Test at center of thick piece of
fish to see if it flakes easily.
While
fish is cooking, melt butter and mix with lemon juice to taste. The juice of a
half lemon should do it for most people. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. If,
like me, you can only use one heating element at a time (either the toaster
oven or the hot plate but not both) you might want to make the butter sauce
ahead and just give it a stir at serving.
Plate
greens (they will appear shriveled and will be a bit crisp but delicious), fish,
and beets. Drizzle lemon sauce over all.
Note: we always think of beets as dark red, but they do come in gold and some shades in between, with almost no difference in taste.
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