Beat It!

Beat it!  No one wants to be defeated!  Something-something-something.  It doesn't matter who's wrong or right.  Just beat it, beat it, beat it!  Just beat it, beat it, beat it!  Can you guess what I made this week? For twenty eight years, I thought I hated beets.  Twenty eight years!  That's a long time without knowing some amazing deliciousness.  You must understand, though, the only beets I had ever had were the super-dark purple things that came pickled out of a can.  I hate pickled things.  Blech!  But beets in all their pure glory?  Holy cow!

When I went and picked up the CSA I mentioned a few weeks ago, I got two beets in it.  I really wanted to try them, so I forced myself to put them in my box.  Then I met Richard.  Richard is very nice and the farm chef at Hidden Valley Farms.  He had some samples out of things he had made with the farm produce.  One of the samples was some simply prepared beets.  I tried one and then  proceeded to have a long conversation with Richard about how he made them.  Here's what Richard shared with me:

Roasted Beets

Beets

1 cup water

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375.  Scrub the beets with a vegetable brush and water, and cut off the crowns.  Place the beets onto a baking sheet and add the water.  Sprinkle the beets with olive oil, salt and pepper and cover with foil.  Roast the beets for about 30 minutes or until they are fork tender.  Let beets cool and then rub the peels away with a paper or tea towel.

That's it!

Funny, I thought the inside of the beet would be redder.  Seriously, the prep time on this dish is almost nonexistent.

There she it, my delicious beet with a fabulous pork chop in onion gravy.

Aaaaaaand there's Mike enjoying his beet.  :-)  Getting Mike to enjoy vegetables, especially vegetables that have been previously deemed unlikeable, so something like this is always a big accomplishment.  When he finished his dinner, the beet was all gone, but he still had some of his pork chop left, and he said to me, "I'm sad I don't have any phat beets left."  :-)

This is how I describe beets now: Candy vegetables.  They're really sweet and has a really deep, complex flavor.  I also found out this week that they're super good for you, so double win!  It's a shame that I've gone so long without this delectable veggie in my life, but at least I know about it now.  I would be willing to bet money that almost no one would dislike this.