Roasted Beets with Fresh Mint and Chèvre

I read a guest post by Darya Pino Rose on Tim Ferriss’ blog about convincing your loved ones to lose weight.  As an example, Darya wrote about both her and her father never liking beets but growing to love them after trying beets prepared in a particular way.  The particular way was listed as a recipe at the end of the article.

I never liked beets either.  Reading this story and seeing the recipe prompted me to give beets another chance.

The next time I went to the grocery store, I picked up a trio of beets, a little can of crumbled goat cheese, and a bundle of mint leaves.

The leaves on the beets still looked good, so I took the article’s advice.  I washed the leaves and chopped them up for cooking.

Unfortunately, I had run out of onions.  I did have some leftover shallots though, so I fried them up with garlic and olive oil.

Then I added the greens, cooked them until soft, and came up with this deliciously buttery dish:

While the greens were simmering, I cut up the beets.  The red juice of the beets proved annoying, as it got all over my hands and threatened to ruin my clothes.  I roasted the beets for 35 minutes.

After roasting, I let the beets sit for an hour, then chilled them for an hour.  Once the beets were chilled, I tossed them in mint leaves, then garnished with goat cheese and more mint leaves.  Here’s the result (though I forgot to wipe off the plate):

I presented the dish to my wife and two older kids (aged 4 and 6).  My wife tasted it but refused to eat more because she hates goat cheese.  My 6-year-old tasted it, but only wanted to eat the goat cheese.  My 4-year-old refused to eat any of it.  I tried it and it was okay.  I still don’t care for the taste of beets, though I admit the goat cheese and mint does make it more palatable.

Steve’s Rating: 4/10

A too-much-information note on beets: they will turn your poop and pee alarming shades of red.

 

Roasted Beets with Fresh Mint and Chèvre, Steve-style

Ingredients:

• 3 large beets
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• about 1 cup of shallots, chopped
• olive oil
• fresh mint leaves
• 2 ounces crumbled goat cheese
• Sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
2. Cut the leaves off the beets, wash them thoroughly, and cut them up.   Heat about a tablespoon of oil and add garlic and shallots over high heat, about 3 minutes.  Add beet leaves and cook another 3 minutes.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  The beet greens are done.
3. Now peel the beets and chop them into small cubes.  Add the beets to a large baking pan and toss with some olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.  Once roasted, let the beets cool for awhile.
4. Once cool, transfer the beets to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and cool them in the refrigerator for about an hour.
5. Slice the mint leaves into ribbons and toss them with the beets.  Sprinkle some goat cheese on top, then garnish with some additional mint.  Serve.