Locally grown beets and beet greens salad
From Waupaca’s Farm Market, on the Square, to your Table: Beets and Beet Greens Salad
Last week I stopped to buy one bunch of locally grown red beets, about 8-10 small beets, with attached leafy tops from our Square’s Farm Market.
What a food discovery!
Digging into the kitchen cookbook shelf to learn simple and fast ways to prepare these beets I decided on a Beet and Beet Greens Salad: my first.
Cut away the fresh leafy tops. Look for beet tops that are a vivid shiny green with deep purple veins. Soak the leafy tops in water, rinsing several times. Next I wrapped the beet tops, after shaking away the water using a colander, on the top of which I place an kitchen towel and shake, putting the colander covered with the towel into the refrigerator to chill. Cut the stems from the beets.
These locally grown Waupaca red beets had delicate thin long stems. Wash and rinse the stems, then cut into 2-inch lengths. Set aside. Next wash the beets, leaving intact about an inch of the stem.
Cook the beets, covered with water, until just tender. The cooking time was about 15 minutes. Larger beets will take longer to cook. It’s important not to overcook beets. After cooking and draining, slip away the beet skins.
’d left about an inch on each beet (root) where the stems meet the root and, as the beets were small, decided to leave this part on the beets. Mince with a knife one peeled clove of garlic. A cutting board and chopping knife works well. Using the same pot in which the beets were cooked, empty away most of the water, leaving just enough to cook the 2-inch beet stems, about 4-5 minutes. Cut the beets into slices, and place into a serving bowl, add the 2-inch stems and the freshly chilled leafy tops, minced garlic, and some freshly ground pepper.
Cut a lemon into quarters, squeezing the juice onto the beets, stems, and leafy tops, adding a drizzle of olive oil. Toss the salad carefully. Serve.
A discovery for these reasons: one cup of raw beet greens, about 8 calories, is high in iron, Vitamin A and C, and calcium. Leafy beet greens are tasty as salad greens. Beets are high in folic acid, calcium, and potassium. The red color of beets comes from betacyanin, an antioxidant. The sweet fresh taste of locally grown adds to the nutritional value of beets. The exciting taste of the stems with the minced garlic, beets and beet leafy tops, olive oil and lemon, is not to be missed as a seasonal summer memory. I felt as though I was partaking in a beautiful feast at my kitchen table.
Enjoy red beets locally grown this summer season. I will again and again.
3 Comments for "Locally grown beets and beet greens salad"
fanriver Jul 22, 2010 1:37 PM
India Jul 22, 2010 2:10 PM
By Ingrid Lesley
Original Plum Torte, made with fresh plums, soon to be ripe and ready from north central Wisconsin trees, is a favorite. Plums are rich in Vitamins A and C, and low in calories, one deep purple plum is 36 calories, a cup of plum halves, 102. Cook book authors Marian Burros and Lois Levine included this famous and the most requested recipe ever published by the New York Times, in From The Elegant But Easy Cookbook. This Plum Torte recipe, first published in the Times in 1981, was reprinted every year in the paper’s cooking columns, 1983-1995, by reader demand. It is from a now fragile and yellowed clipping of the Times’s Original Plum Torte recipe that last Sunday afternoon, I made this favorite.
1 stick unsalted butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons (brown) sugar
1 cup unbleached flower - sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
pinch of salt
24 plum halves ( I used purple plums)
1 teaspoon cinnamon & more to individual taste
Juice of a lemon
Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven, preheated to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and the 3/4 cup of sugar. Add the flour, baking powder, eggs, and salt; beating well. Spoon the batter into an ungreased 9 or 10-inch spring form pan. Cover the top with the plums, skin sides up. Sprinkle the 2 Tablespoons sugar (I used brown sugar) and cinnamon over the top, adding the juice on a lemon. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool. Serve simply or with some vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy. The recipe is simple and reliable.
India Jul 29, 2010 5:21 PM