We've been a bigger variety of produce lately. My wife signed us up this summer for a farm CSA nearby and we'll, most likely, start making the farmer's market a regular stop as well. It's nice getting quality, locally-grown produce. The only problem is we've never dealt with some of the items before and need to get creative.
Today I'm finding a use for beets and will be pickling them like I have cucumbers (Get Joe Pickles) in the past. Those went well, why wouldn't these? Just a quick note. These are 'fridge beets.' They need to be refrigerated and only will last about a couple months. Often when you hear of pickling, or canning, the result can be stored at room temperature more or less indefinitely. Someday I'll probably get to that but it won't be right now.
Ingredients:
5 medium sized beets
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
Black pepper grinder
Quick version:
1. Cut off greens and wash beets
2. Roast for hour at 400 degrees, then cool
3. Remove skins and slice
4. Make brine with vinegar, water, sugar and salt (and spices if desired), allow to cool
5. Add everything to a mason jar, put in fridge
To do the beets (here's recipe I started with), as opposed to cucumbers, there are a few new steps. First, I just learned, you need to roast the beets. This is easy but takes some time. Cut off most of the greens, if they're attached, and wash (water only) and scrub well in the sink. Wrap each beet individually in tin foil, place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for an hour at 400 degrees. When the time is up unwrap and let them cool to room temp.
Once they're cool, the skin should come off easily. It can simply be rubbed off with your fingers or a paper towel. Note: use plastic, disposable gloves! Cooked beets stain like crazy.
The rest is a lot like doing pickles. Cut off the ends where any root or leaves may remain then chop up however you prefer the beets to be shaped. I just did round slices. In a saucepan on the stovetop add the cider vinegar, water, sugar and salt. Heat and stir only until the solids are dissolved, then turn the stove off. Let this brine cool to close to room temperature too.
This'll all fit in a quart sized mason jar. If you want grind some pepper into the bottom or, if you have them, add a few whole peppercorns (I didn't hence the grinder). Add the sliced beets. Then, once reasonably cool, pour the brine over the top. Finally put it in the fridge. Super easy. Wait at least a day before eating.
Supposedly beets are a superfood, the real reason for doing this. I'm going to try these with the kiddos and hopefully they like them. The younger one loved beets before we moved but I haven't gotten them since and, also, didn't make them myself. The older one I have less hope for but we'll give it a go all the same. I know I like them on hamburgers (thanks Boxcar Burgers!) and they'll probably get worked into smoothies if we exhaust the other options. Let's hope they're good.
Since I did this yesterday, but hadn't finished the writeup yet, an update of sorts:
The beet slices are already basically translucent. And they're pretty good, if quite tart. I'll definitely need to dry them off before serving or else the juice will stain everything, yay. Maybe that'll take some of the vinegar bite out of them too. (Shrugs)
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