Erica De Mane

Pink beets, roasted and peeled, smooth and shiny.

Recipes:

Roasted Beet Salad with Pistachios and Basil Vinaigrette
Roasted Beets with Black Olives, Orange, and Anchovy

Just about every recipe for beets I’ve run across in the last ten years has paired them with goat cheese. There’s nothing wrong with that—in fact it’s a fine combination—but I’m sick of the taste, and the combination of textures isn’t the greatest. I’ve especially had it with the stacked beet and goat cheese “lasagna” appetizer thing that so many restaurants have kept on their menus for years. It’s weird when such a chef creation takes off and spreads around the food world, running amok.

I do love beets, with their sweet but curiously bitter undertone, which, for me, prevents them from ever being boring, and of course they’re outrageously beautiful in shades of pink, purple, yellow, orange, red and white stripes, and pink and white stripes. I saw all these colors at the Union Square market a few days ago. I closed my eyes and grabbed a bunch, and they turned out, after roasting and peeling, to be that amazing shade of pinkish reddish orange that Matisse often used for wallpaper.

What should you do with beets? Roast them, for starters. Their sugars concentrate and fill your kitchen with a strange, unique sweetness, like no other sweetness, since it’s tinged with a root-vegetable aroma (maybe a little like a roasted sweet potato, but deeper and more complex). Roasting contains juices, so the colors and flavors of your beets aren’t lost to a big pot of hot water. In markets in Italy you can buy preroasted beets. Isn’t that something? Nobody would think of doing that here. If you want to try the things, you’ll have to cook them yourself.

What should you do with roasted beets? Bathe them in Italian flavors is my answer. Anchovies, just a touch of them, are an amazing match, believe it or not. I borrowed an odd Sicilian combination of anchovies and orange to flavor one of these two beet salads, It’s something I first encountered years ago in an artichoke dish I ate in Palermo. For the other salad I relied on basil, which is pretty much the perfect beet herb, much better than the more typical and more strident choice dill. Pancetta, capers, and olives, all salty, are good bets too. (I find you don’t often go wrong pairing salty and sweet. Think of salted caramels.) You also can add nuts of all types with confidence. Pine nuts, walnuts, almonds, or the pistachios I’ve chosen for one of these recipes add rich flavor and protein, and their textures seem right against the slipperiness of the beets. So as I rummaged through my head for appropriate Italian flavors to add to my two beet salads, I found myself using quite a few.

Here are beets, beautiful and delicious, for your viewing and eating pleasure.

(Both salads serve 4 as a first course or light lunch)

Roasted Beet Salad with Pistachios and Basil Vinaigrette

4 medium beets
Salt
2 small bunches watercress, well stemmed
A handful of unsalted, shelled pistachios
1 shallot, thinly sliced
A small chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

For the vinaigrette:

1 cup basil leaves
1 small garlic clove, roughly chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice (or a little more to taste)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the beets on a big sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle them with a little water, and close up the foil tightly around them. Place the package on a sheet pan, and roast for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the beets are tender and fragrant. You’ll smell their sweetness, an indication that they’re getting there, but if you’re unsure, poke one with a thin knife. It should pierce through with little effort. When they’re done, run the beets briefly under cool water, just to cool them. Peel them and cut them into small cubes (they’ll look like big rubies (don’t you wish)), and place them in a bowl, seasoning them with a little salt.

Blanch the basil leaves in a small pot of boiling water for one minute. Drain the basil, and run it under cold water to stop the cooking and to bring up its green color. Squeeze out all the water. Place the basil in the bowl of a food processor. Add the garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. Season with salt and black pepper, and pulse several times, until the mixture is smooth.

Place the watercress in a salad bowl. Add the beets, pistachios, and shallot, and pour on the vinaigrette (you may have a little extra, so just eyeball it). Toss gently. Divide the salad out onto four plates, and shave a few sheets of Parmigiano Reggiano onto each one. Serve right away.

Roasted Beets with Black Olives, Orange, and Anchovy

4 medium beets
1 medium head frisée lettuce, torn into pieces
1/2 a small red onion, very thinly sliced
A handful of black Nicoise olives
A handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves

For the vinaigrette:

1 anchovy, minced
The grated zest from 1 small orange
1 garlic clove, smashed with the side of a knife
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Spanish sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the beets on a big sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle them with a little water, and close up the foil tightly around them. Place the package on a sheet pan, and roast for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the they are tender and fragrant. You’ll smell their sweetness, an indication that they’re getting there, but if you’re unsure poke one with a thin knife. It should pierce through with little effort. When they’re done, run the beets briefly under cool water, just to cool them. Peel them, and cut them into not-too-thin rounds, thick enough that they don’t break apart too easily.

Whisk all the ingredients for the vinaigrette together in a small bowl.

Place the frisée in a salad bowl, and drizzle it with a little olive oil and season it with a bit of salt. Toss it, and divide it out onto four salad plates.

Add the beets to the salad bowl. Add the olives, red onion, and parsley. Pour on the vinaigrette, and toss gently. Divide the beets out onto the frisée. Serve right away.