Consider this the world’s shortest list of ingredients next to the recipe for making toast: grilled beets. While dh and ds were at the grocery store yesterday, apparently ds pointed THE ALMIGHTY FINGER OF THE PRESCHOOLER at beets, and dh happily obliged. After all, when your small child is pointing to a vegetable that he’s actually likely to eat, you often want to pounce on that with all of the joy and verve of a tween offered a chance to see Justin Bieber reading the part of Edward in a table read of “Breaking Dawn: part 2”. (Maybe minus all the angsty swoon…but you get the point.)
The pair of ’em picked out a lovely set of golden and red beets. Then dh prepped ’em and put ’em on the grill. Y NO CAN HAS PIC? Sorry, didn’t think to take one, but suffice to say that they were lovely. The golden beets have this terrific yellowish-orangy hue, and the red beets have a fantastic reddish purple color that just lights up a plate. This recipe yields the same outcome as oven roasting, only you don’t have to bother turning on your oven (yeay!). DH also noted that he finds this method of peeling beets far easier than what I do – using a peeler on them when they’re raw so I can chop peeled beets before roasting them in the oven.
Pointing back to my question about how to have things that help relieve some of the monotony of one-night dinners and the related follow-up post by my friend Local Kitchen, we did have extra beets at the end of the meal, even with ds clamoring for a third serving. What do you do with said leftover beets? WHATEVER YOU WANT. The suggestions I had for dh were either to cut them up and toss them in with some leftover couscous for a simple lunch option or cut them up and add them to the salads he takes to work every day. Either way, they’re yummy and totally worth having. And, if you have a grill, they’re easy to prepare. Also, waste not, want not: this recipe also yields a bunchload of beet greens. USE THOSE BABIES. Make a salad out of ’em, wilt ’em in a pan before serving immediately…find a use for ’em!
I will also point out that when your 2-1/2 year old son decides to wipe purple beety hands on his white t-shirt, baby wipes appear to take out most of the stain. *cough*
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 3-5 (depends on your beet-lovin’ level)
Ingredients
1 bunch golden beets
1 bunch red beets
Make it Happen
1. Start your grill and aim for about medium-level (indirect) heat. When ready, this should be up in the 450F range.
2. Trim off the beet greens and scrub each beet bulb clean.
3. Wrap each beet bulb in aluminum foil; place the foil-wrapped beets on the grill and close the grill cover.
4. Turn the beets every 15 minutes until at desired tenderness, approximately 1 hour for medium/large beets (3″ or so in diameter), slightly less for small beets (2″ diameter or thereabouts).
5. Remove the foil and then carefully remove the beet skin; this is most easily done by rubbing the beet in a paper towel, which should fairly well slough off the skin.
6. Either serve whole or chop into bite-sized pieces and serve.
