Why Hello There, Mr. Beet.

My experiences with beets have never been favorable ones. I usually encountered them on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. I was turned-off by the intense fushia color but my Mother always encouraged me to just try a bite. I would but it never changed my mind. Beets were weird. My good friend (and brother's girlfriend) loves beets. She raves about them and uses those holidays as an excuse to prepare her favorite root veggie. So naturally when our 1st CSA box arrived I was wary to find 2 beets resting at the bottom. Fortunately I knew who to go to for some beet advice.


Between speaking with Beth (brother's gf) and extensive research on http://www.foodnetwork.com/ I was able to find a recipe I felt comfortable with to try. Bobby Flay's recipe sounded simple, hearty and heathly. Of course there were some changes made. The recipe calles for yellow beets as well but considering I was experimenting with something I didn't know I would even enjoy there was no way this skeptic was going out and buying more of this unfamiliar root veg. We also opted to cook to the beets in the oven for about 45 minutes at 450 degrees instead of grilling them. The last time Andrew used the grill there were some serious flames involved. We've both been a little leery of using it ever since. Lastly, substituted the arugula for some red leaf lettuce we already had thanks to our fabulous CSA box.

Andrew and I both sat down and eyed each other. Every other ingredient in this recipe were items we loved. Why were we so hesitant to try this crazy colored root veg? I blame it on all the crazy pickled versions we were subjected to as children during the aforementioned holidays. Nevertheless it was go time. The first bite was not my favorite but the more that I ate this salad I was able to pick up on the sweet but pungent flavor the roasted red beet has and I liked it. Alot. I'm sure the yummy vinegarette, goat cheese (my fav), and roasted pine nuts played their part but we each finished our big roasted red beet salad. The next time these show up in our CSA box they won't be given a cautious side eye. I will be able to greet Mr. Beet with a confident smile and a polite 'how do you do?'


The beautiful beet salad!