Boiled Beets

My first experience with beets was Thanksgiving 2007 when my family went out for dinner. I was feeling adventurous and plopped a beet on my plate as we passed the dishes around. Surprisingly I thought they were tasty despite being obviously straight out of a can (like all the other food). Within weeks of returning home, both my brother and father had bought fresh beets, and I'd been thinking about it, trying to come up with the best way to cook them.

I'd stare at them at the grocery store, reluctant to bring something home without knowing anything at all about how to cook it. Week after week they'd call my name between the spinach and the cauliflower. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn't 100% sure those dirty things were actually beets. Then, on the week where I severely underestimated how many veggies I needed, for some reason I reached in the bin and grabbed four beets.

And they sat in my fridge all week as I ate every single other thing I had, beating myself up for not buying more veggies. I finally started researching how to cook them and, naturally, wanted to roast them. However, all the roasting recipes require putting the beets in a foil pocket. Great. I don't have foil. I cook everything with a basic metal spoon, so I tend to consider foil along the lines of a bonus or just flat out cheating. So my next option was to boil them. And that I did.

I put my 4 beets in a pot with enough water to cover them and let them boil for at least an hour, scared to death they'd boil over and stain everything in my kitchen. They didn't. They just gently boiled away. When they seemed soft after gently pushing on them, I placed them in another pot with cold water where they sat for a few minutes. Using my fingers, I removed the peel, which was much easier than I anticipated. I sliced them up on a white plate, added salt, pepper, and Earth Balance soy butter.

They are reminiscent of potatoes, but not quite the same. They were alright, but I'm not eager to boil them again. I do, however, really want to try roasting them and I had the strange urge to puree them. Ok, that's not so strange for me since I look for any excuse to break out the immersion blender. The best part is that nothing is stained, not even the white plate I put them on. Whew.

I tried taking a photo, but they were camera shy.