That was the subject of the email I sent my friend Susan last night. She suggested I post it, so here it is. [I’ve added a couple of elaborations in brackets.]
I had half a dozen beets, some biggish, some a little on the wan side, leaves were certainly goners, that I steamed tonight. Did them in the Cuisinart rice cooker, came out perfectly. [I peeled them, which I don’t usually do when cooking beets, but otherwise they wouldn’t have fit in the steaming basket…cut the big ones in half to be the same size as the smaller ones. Steaming time was about 25 minutes.] While they were hot, I cut them in thinnish slices.
Looking around for a nice marinade or pickle, in Amelia Saltsman’s “The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook” I found a notion for roasted beets--no proportions--from Beechwood Restaurant in Venice.
The combination is honey (I used Greek, 3 tablespoons), olive oil (Spanish, ditto), shallots (I thinly sliced 4 green onions all the way up), thyme (I used dried leaves, a teaspoon), sherry vinegar (1 tablespoon) [if I hadn’t had sherry vinegar, I would have used cider vinegar], and salt (a good pinch of Maldon’s). Pepper isn’t mentioned and I think that's right, because everything is so delicate, but I expect a few twists of the white pepper mill couldn’t hurt.
I blended the dressing to dissolve the honey and poured it over, stirred gently...not hardly anything left in the bottom.
It was just about the best thing on beets I’ve ever tasted. I couldn’t stop eating them.
Finally I set the bowl in the fridge…this morning I stirred them up, took a slice—how each piece glistens!—again I couldn’t stop. Beechwood lets their beets marinate for “at least 24 hours.” In my house, they won’t last that long…
Next I will try this honeyed marinade with steamed carrots…then how about chunks of butternut squash?...roasted fennel…cipolline…leeks? …yummy cool made-ahead salads for autumn…maybe sprinkle with pomegranate seeds when they come into season?
Thank you Amelia…and Beechwood Restaurant!
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2 comments:
I can't wait to try this, and I'm so glad you added all those veg ideas in addition to the beets. What else do you make in your rice maker? Will I want to get one?
I still have some of the beets, how many days later (I write this on Thursday)? SO good! As for the rice cooker, yes, I'd definitely add it to your batterie de cuisine. It cooks all sorts of rice perfectly, for starters--I even cooked some arborio once, it was lovely (until then, I'd saved it for risotto). It makes an excellent steamer--I actually could have steamed the tuna for the salad I just posted in it...forgot! And I see that amazon sells them for under $50. The booklet that comes with it is marvelous.
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