I often find beets to be boring and repetitive. They are one of those foods that have such an overwhelming flavor that it seems to me that no matter how they are prepared, they just taste like beets. They dominate almost anything you cook with them. That being said, I love beets, and they do have a lot of great accompaniments. I, however, have found a preparation that tames them a touch, and I am happy to share it here:
2-3 beets: I had 3 small golden beets, but any kind will do
red wine vinegar
minced garlic
olive oil
Bake beets until reasonably soft, firm but tender when pierced with a fork. For larger beets, this may be up to an hour, but for smaller ones, start poking them with a fork at 30-35 minutes. Once cooled, peel and then grate – the large holes of a standard box grater is fine. Mix with vinegar, garlic and olive oil, all to taste. Personally, I think adding some fresh parsley might be a nice addition to this recipe, so I’ll try that next time.
When I pick up my farm share each week, I often have the opportunity to buy local honey, cheese, maple syrup, wine and other locally-produced goodies. I haven’t taken advantage of this option until recently, when I bought a couple cheeses. They are different from the usual products I buy, but very delicious. One of the cheeses I purchased is a goat cheese, and that’s what I used as an accompaniment to the beet salad. I cut some chunks of goat cheese and rolled them into little balls (purely for presentation), froze them briefly so they would maintain their form while the rest of dinner (pork tenderloin and local corn) was on the grill.