Sorry about all the showy stuff. I like doing the baking challenges and wedding cakes and all, but it’s springtime, and in springtime a girl’s heart turns to whatever is coming out of the garden first. It’s probably a bit too early for most of us to find fine young beets with their fresh leafy greens still attached, but when you do see ‘em, GRAB ‘EM! The balance of the sweet beet roots and the earthy greens in the salad is just fabulous. A good iron boost, too.
1 bunch beets with greens still attached
X cloves of garlic (I leave how many cloves to your own palate and conscience; maybe start with 3 cloves and see how it looks)
olive oil
salt and pepper
crumbled blue OR feta cheese (optional, I guess, but I really like how it pulls the flavors together)
Prepare the beets:
Trim the beet greens off about an inch from root. Set aside.
Give the beet roots a little rinse and quick scrub. Trim off either end. Depending on size of beet and degree of cook’s impatience, half or quarter beets to decrease cooking time.
Cook beets until tender by your preferred method (wrapped in wax paper in the microwave usually does fine, as does boiling, but if I have the patience and attention not to let the water boil away and carbonize the bottom of my saucepot like last time I made this, I think steaming is the best method – most even cooking and least water logging).
Let the beets cool until you can handle them. Then you can just push the skin off with your thumb. (Don’t worry – your pink fingers will be back to a normal color very soon.) Cut beets into bite-sized chunks.)
As you are waiting for the beets to be done, you can
Prepare the greens:
Rinse the greens well, and chop them pretty fine. (Unless the stalks have gotten really thick, the stems and leaves will cook altogether rather nicely. Keep thicker stalks separate if they will need a bit more cooking time than the leafy part.)
Heat olive oil in a sautee pan over medium-high heat. Give the garlic cloves a smack with the side of your knife, just to get the juiciness flowing, and then lightly brown the cloves smacked-but-whole on both sides. Watch them so they don’t burn.
Once the garlic is lightly browned, toss in the greens and sautee until tender. Salt and pepper to taste. (I go light on the salt if I’m planning on adding cheese. I also like my beets pretty peppery.) Pull off the heat when done.
To assemble: The convenient part of this recipe is that it works at a range of temperatures. It doesn’t matter if the beets or the greens are done first. When both are done, toss the beet pieces in the pan with the greens (not to cook but to coat with all the nice pan juices). Remove garlic cloves and then put the beets and greens in your serving bowl. Toss with the crumbled blue or feta cheese.
A few considerations:
- If you don’t want you cheese too pink, sprinkle and toss just before serving.
- If you are refrigerating before serving, let the salad come back to room temp before serving. Tastes best in the “cool room temp” to “warm” range.
- If you choose not to use cheese, I’d mince that nice browned garlic and toss it in instead. It’s a little too much in combination with the cheese, though. (No need to waste that nice, browned garlic clove, though. Spread it on a piece of bread, why don’t you?!)
Finally, let me send out a general call for favorite simple salads, especially those that use no lettuce but rather highlight an individual vegetable of the season.
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