Saturday, February 28, 2009

Don't Mess With Beets

I've been seeing restaurant menus featuring beets in various salad combinations. About two weeks ago I bought four little beets at the Farmers Market. Today I finally cooked them.

It's been a long time since I cooked beets (not Richie's favorite) but I did know to cook them whole, stems and all. "The skin peels right off in your bare hands after they've been cooked and cooled."

Folks, that's a big fat lie! They don't. Beets bleed bright red juice all over the cutting board, the knife, the sink and your hands. I "rubbed away" to no avail. Finally pulled out the peeler and used that.

I diced them and put them in a plastic container. Then I washed the peeler, knife and cutting board. My finger ends still have a bluish cast to them and I've washed them two or three times.

But: now that I have the beets, tomorrow's main meal is going to feature a salad of red-tipped lettuce with diced beets, walnuts, crumbled feta cheese and garnished by the hardboiled egg I cooked with the beets. The shell looks brown, but I feel certain the egg white will be at least pink. Given all the red juice a beet can (and does) put out, how could it not?

No comments: