My husband brought a big bunch of beet roots to me in the kitchen the other day that he dug up from our garden. They were so beautiful I had to start taking pictures of their jewel like color immediately. I will share a couple of new recipes for what I did with them over the next couple of days, but in the meantime I am going to cover the basics of my favorite and most simple method for roasting them.
I did cover this in my recipe for roasted beets with fresh mint a while back, but I have changed my technique slightly. I used to use aluminum foil to wrap the beets for roasting, but now I choose parchment on a parchment lined baking pan. It works equally well without the heavy metal deposits working their way into our food.
Beets are extremely nutritious. They are a great source of Vitamin A and C, Calcium, phosphorus, niacin, and flick acid. The betaine in them helps to protect the liver from the harmful effect of alcohol, and they have been known to help guard against cancer. The greens are especially nutritious as well like that of any other leafy green. They are quite tasty simply sauteed in a bit of olive oil. Sadly, these leaves wound up in the compost heap.
| Roasted Beets | |
| 1 bunch or more | beet roots |
| (any variety or color; Detroit Dark Red, Chioggia, Golden) | |
| parchment paper | |
| Preheat the oven to 425 F. | |
| Cut the stems and leaves from the beet roots. If the ends of the roots are long and spindly, remove those as well. | |
| Arrange the beets in groups of 3-5 depending on size and color on sheets of parchment paper. It is best to separate the colors as the dark reds will run into the color of the goldens. Wrap each package from corner to center as tightly as possibly without tearing the paper. Turn the packages over to keep the corners secure. | |
| Arrange the packages folded side down on a baking sheet lined in parchment paper. Put into the preheated oven for an hour or until the roots are no longer hard to the touch. The parchment will brown during roasting. | |
| Allow the cooked beets to cool for about 5 minutes before peeling. Unwrap the packages. Hold the beets, one at a time, under cool water and use your fingers to peel them. The skin should slide right off, quickly and without fuss. If using a combination of colors, it is best to keep the golden beets separated from the others until you are ready to serve them. | |
| They will keep well refrigerated for up to 5 days. | |
