Summertime Roasted Beets

Roasted White & Rose Beets on Their Greens

Recipe by Robin

I have a few recipes for roasting winter veggies that I’ll share come January. When we received rose-and-white baby beets this week, we wanted to roast them along with some Lemon Ginger Chicken we were baking, to fully utilize the energy our oven consumes. So I adapted a winter recipe for summer. I substituted apple cider vinegar for the heavier balsamic and red wine vinegars, and freshened it up by using fresh parsley in place of dry thyme.

I served the dressed beets on top of steamed beet greens and arugula, for an even more summery presentation (and because I have a lot of greens in the fridge!)

As always, I like to be health- and earth-conscious when using aluminum foil:

Beets Ready for Roasting

• Put veggies on shiny side of foil. I’ve heard the dull side is more apt to shed tiny aluminum particles onto food.
• Wash and recycle your aluminum foil. Recycled aluminum requires only 5% of the energy needed to produce so-called virgin aluminum. Virgin aluminum is mined from open pits and smelting ore produces greenhouse gases including precursors of acid rain.
• Let me know if you think of a way to prepare this dish without aluminum foil!

Summertime Roasted Beets

serves 2

Baby Beets with Dressing

1 bunch baby beets

Olive oil, salt, and black pepper

2 ½ tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp. maple syrup

¼ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. white pepper

1 tbsp. minced Italian parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Keep small beets whole, and cut larger beets into halves or quarters (to match size of whole beets).

Scrub or peel beets. Use hands to coat damp beets with olive oil (a teaspoon or two), season lightly with salt and/or black pepper. Wrap in aluminum foil packet. Bake ½ hour, unwrap and test for doneness (they should be easily pierced by a fork but not squishy). If necessary, rewrap and bake another 10 minutes.

While beets are roasting, make dressing: combine apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, salt, pepper, and finely chopped parsley. Wash, chop, and steam beet greens 6 – 8 minutes till tender. Keep warm.

When done, put beets in bowl and toss with dressing. Serve beet greens topped with beets and dressing.