[It's another day of spotlighting a potential new writer for The Kitchen. Today we feature Chris, from Brooklyn. Welcome, Chris!]
The sweet earthly flavor and deep red color of beets works well in salads, side dishes and even sandwiches, but I don’t usually make beets at home. They take a long time to cook and their juice leaves a bloody mess everywhere it touches. I’ve heard that if you steam beets, their red juice can even stain your ceiling.
I stopped serving beets except as a special treat. Then, at the beginning of the summer, I found these vacuum packed pre-cooked beets from France in the produce section of Fairway. They come fully cooked, peeled and ready to eat.
I tried both the organic ($2.99, 500 grams) and the standard beets ($1.19, 250 grams), both by Rocal (http://www.rocal.fr/). While I liked the larger size of the organic beets, I thought the flavor of the smaller standard beets was better. The non-organic beets have a deeper, sweeter taste, while the organic beets had a slightly more bitter taste.
I used an egg slicer to make quick, perfect beet slices. They were a quick way to add flavor and color to my summer salad.
The flavor of these vacuum packed beets is a bit flat, probably because the beets are steamed and packed in their own juice without salt, pepper or oil. This didn’t matter in the summer salads I used them in, but it would probably be more noticeable in a dish like borscht where the beets are the main attraction.
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I've always wondered about these beets (frequent Fairway shopper here), but my partner is not a beet enthusiast, so I haven't tried them before -- thanks for the info. I think I have seen other vegetables packaged like this, too -- any experience with related products to share???
Frank -- I tried the vaccum packed lentils, after thrying these beets. The lentils had a great texture and flavor. I used them in a summer saland with hard boiled eggs, cukes and a red wine vinegar dressing.
beets are soooo much better if you roast them, then peel and dress with vinegar immediately.
no matter what you are doing with them.
double wrap tight in tin foil, with some of the water you washed them in still clinging. 450 in the toaster oven . . . and therefore no stained ceilings (chris, that cracked me up)
or roast 'em in the coals of a campfire
(we did this every night on vaco, beets or potatoes, ready for salads the next day)
i get these at trader joe's and i ADORE them!
i love beets all seasons, but in summer its just too darn hot to roast or steam or anything them
these save me!!
nice post chris!!!
Chris is not lying about the ceilings. When my mother made bortsch in her old kitchen, with lowish ceilings, there would be little pink spots everywhere.
Ha! I have a pack in the fridge from TJ's but have not tried them yet. I agree that roasted beets are the best.
Yes, they are a bit flat, but try them sliced in half or whole if they are small, grilled for a short time on the barbie and then serve with topped with slightly-melted goat cheese. Folks think you are a super genius when you do this. Now my secret is out.
What an interesting find - I love roasted beets but as Ann mentioned sometimes it's just too hot to make them.
The ceiling issue cracks me up - I was imagining more of a pink haze but the little pink spots make me think of William Wegman's "Cotto": http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/wegman/card1.html!
ugh, here is the link without an exclamation point at the end to mess it up:
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/wegman/card1.html