Beets

Beets are a very controversial vegetable. There are those who hate them, and those who love them. My son Daniel, who falls into the latter category, upon seeing the massive bunch of beets in our box, requested that we have them that night. We didn't, primarily because beets were the one vegetable that weren't going to wilt and rot in a short period of time.

We also have some beet haters in this family. Zachary is one. Rich was one, but he's being a good sport when he's not singing "salad shooter" (see yesterday's post) and Conrad is not exactly a fan, either. I understand this attitude. I really do. I don't think I was willing to eat beets at all when I was a kid, but I'm not sure I even tasted them. My hatred of beets was related to their ridiculous color, their tendency to stain every other food on the plate that same magenta, and possibly my grandmother's favorite beet treatment: pickling in vinegar.

In addition to the beets themselves, I had the beet greens. After having said beets and greens taking up an inordinate amount of space in the fridge for a week, I decided I'd cook it all. I washed and trimmed the beets and popped them in a bot of water to boil gently until they were fork tender. When they are done, it is easy to just slip the skins right off of them. I sliced them and added a little butter and fresh parsley.

For the greens, I washed and chopped the leaves. In a skillet, I cooked a couple of slices of bacon, when it was crisp I removed it and added some diced onions. Once the onions were soft, I added a little water, a teaspoon of sugar and the beet greens. I allowed that to cook down until the greens were wilted and tender. I plated up the greens with the beets on top. The other side of the platter has some oven-roasted potatoes.

I made London Broil as a conciliatory gesture for my guys, for their beet-eating trouble, but that didn't turn out. More on that later.