I'm looking forward to next month's cooking club already. Not only because I had a great time with you ladies but because perhaps I'll be willing to post the recipe I selected.
This month I made a beet salad for two reasons
1) I liked the pretty picture in my new cookbook and
2) because I've never tried roasting beets and decided my time had come.
After reviewing conflicting ideas online about how to successfully roast beets I went with the cookbook (I should never have doubted you Martha). After roasting for 45 minutes and cooling as instructed the beets were still hard. So I cranked up the heat, put them back in the oven and had about 10 minutes before the smoke alarm went off. Faced with undercooked beets and no groceries for a different dish I peeled the beets, chopped them into small cubes, tossed with olive oil and s&p and tried roasting them again. 45 minutes later I had beets that I was satisfied with but not ultimately what I was hoping for.
The beets, toasted pine nuts, goat cheese and basil went on top of salad greens (I used a mix of fancy lettuce and arugula). The dressing the recipe called for was a mix of lemon juice, raw garlic and olive oil which, not surprisingly, tasted like lemony olive oil with raw garlic. I should have know better but I was giving the cookbook a chance to get something right. I made a Dijon vinaigrette instead.
Overall the salad was fine but I don't think the recipe deserves to make the blog. I'm putting my hopes on March. And a new cookbook.
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so the NY Times says "Roasting is the easiest way to cook beets" - obviously that's not always the case :) PS - I loved your dish!
ReplyDeleteThese are the directions for roasting from the NY Times. I think the key is the 1/4 inch of water and to cover the dish.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the greens away from the beets, leaving about 1/4 inch of stems. Scrub the beets and place in a baking dish (or lidded ovenproof casserole dish). Add 1/4 inch of water to the dish. Cover tightly. Place in the oven and roast small beets (three ounces or less) for 30 to 40 minutes, medium beets (four to six ounces) for 40 to 45 minutes, and large beets (eight ounces or more) for 50 to 60 minutes. They’re done when they’re easily penetrated with the tip of a knife. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the covered baking dish. Cut away the ends and slip off the skins.