I love beets. Always have. When I was a kid, I don't think we had them except when we went to Grandma's for dinner. Grandma would have a bowl of warm sliced beets available at the table and it would take everything I had not to eat them directly from the serving bowl. Did they come from a can? It could be, but I didn't care. I liked how they were so vibrantly purple and would stain my fingers if I had to touch a slice, only by accident of course. It always surprised me that no matter how hot they were, beets were never mushy. Ever. I loved beets for that.
Now that I think about it, Mom may have purchased beets for me. And they weren't the same as they were at Grandma's. Sort of like how Grandma's Hudsonville vanilla ice cream was better than the Hudsonville vanilla we had at home. Some things were just better at Grandma's just because they were hers to share.
A love affair may have been kindled when I had watercress for the first time, not too long ago. To determine whether my new obsession could bloom into a full-blown romance, like mine with beets already, I jumped right in by preparing this salad found in a Cooking Pleasures magazine:
Roasted Baby Beet Salad
1 large orange
1 lb. baby beets or peeled large beets, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
5 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/2 c coarsely chopped walnuts
2 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 c watercress
Heat oven to 400°F. With a zester, cut the zest from the entire orange. Squeeze and reserve 2 tablespoons juice from orange.
Place beets on large piece of foil. Sprinkle with orange peel; drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil.
Fold into packet; place on baking sheet.
Bake 20 minutes for baby beets or 40 minutes for larger beets or until crisp-tender. I baked mine in the packet for 30 minutes.
Open packet; bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until beets and orange peel are tender.
During last 3 to 5 minutes, spread walnuts on baking sheet next to packet; bake until nuts are fragrant and a shade darker. (Beets can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
Meanwhile, whisk remaining 4 tablespoons oil, vinegar, reserved orange juice, salt and pepper in small bowl. (Dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Toss watercress with just enough of the vinaigrette to coat.
Toss beets and orange peel with remaining vinaigrette.
Spoon beet mixture over watercress; sprinkle with walnuts.
The beets and orange zest smelled so good as they baked in their small little foil packet. Toward the end of baking time, their smell reminded me of, can you believe it, barbeque! And now my love for beets is ten-fold.
The salad was good; the beets were fabulous. While I did enjoy the watercress, it was a bit too much. The flavor was mustard-peppery, which is good, but it was a lot of watercress. I believe I prefer watercress as an accompaniment to other greens not just because of the flavor, but because it is delicate. It was like eating a salad of parsley or mint.
I can see though why watercress is made into sandwiches. If reduced finely, I bet it would be delicious! When it came to this salad, I left it too stemmy and too leafy. Too...fluffy. And stemmy.
Cost:
- orange: $0.32
- beets: $1.29
- watercress: $4.47
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