Dazed and confused? Not me. I’m just Lost in the Cheese Aisle.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A DISH THAT CAN BE BEET

Roasted Beets with Tarragon
Roasted red beets.

You can take it to the bank: I am the Food-Weirdo in our family. The one who likes all the oddball dishes nobody else will touch.

Lamb? Duck? I love ’em... but the Missus loathes ’em. Same goes for organ meats of any description. I’m a self-confessed liver lover, whether it once belonged to a calf, a chicken, a duck, or a goose; however, being a liver lover is lonely business in my house.

Dark meat vs. white meat? I’ll grab the dark every time, whereas She Who Must Be Obeyed goes for the white.

And then there are Root Vegetables. Carrots and parsnips are neutral territory, but when you get into Beet Country, SWMBO and the Mistress of Sarcasm get stopped by the Beety Border Patrol while I sail through immigration with my Permanent Resident’s Visa.

SWMBO: “I don’t like beets!

The Mistress of Sarcasm: “They taste like dirt!”

But I love ’em.

Sure, they have some earthy flavor undertones, but that’s part of their Root Vegetable Heritage. You just need to dress ’em up a little. Roasted, diced, and doctored up with a little sherry vinegar, tarragon, orange zest, and olive oil, they make a dandy salad... or a fine add-on to a pile of greens.

Roasted Beets and Arugula

And if you shred ’em with carrots and onions, they form the base for some excellent latkes. If the flavor were not enough to excite you - even SWMBO concedes that Everything Tastes Better Fried - the bright, sunny colors of the shredded ingredients (golden beets, red beets, carrots, and onions) are enough to brighten the darkest winter day.

Grated Beets and Carrots
Shredded beets (red and golden), carrots, and onions - the raw materials for Beet and Carrot Latkes - await their date with the frying pan.

Beet and Carrot Latkes
Weird but tasty, the finished result: Beet and Carrot Latkes.

Off the beaten path? Sure! But that’s where all the good stuff is.

6 comments:

Erica said...

I would definitely eat those. They look awesome. Although, beets are weird in that they make your #2s look as though you have internal hemorrhaging.

BobG said...

I take it she doesn't like beet borscht?

Elisson said...

@BobG - SWMBO loves cabbage borscht, but the beet version does not appeal to her one tiny bit. 'Cause it has... beets!

Joe said...

I love beets -- my favorite veggie. Spinach is a cose second.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Erica. That last picture makes me suspect there are some zombie-moose tracks about...

- z

Anonymous said...

Ditto, Seester and Neice. Beets be icky!

- Morris William