Beautiful! Roasting them would be my choice, too. There are various ways to roast them. What you mentioned will work nicely. Love roasted beets!

Those look like nice beets. I've never cooked them in foil but that sounds like as good a method as any. They should be fine. And since you're roasting, if they're not tender enough you can just put them back in the oven. It's like a potato--the tip of a sharp knife should slide in easily.

What kind of salad? Beet salad? Or green salad with beets? Something else?

plllog, thanks for the Good Vibes! My kitchen currently looks like a crime scene!

The salad is from Everyday Dorie. There are several variation on the recipe. The one I’m making is salad greens with roasted beets dressed with a white wine vinaigrette that has tiny amounts of honey, harissa paste, and minced ginger.

The main recipe seemed to be more of an entree salad: beets, quinoa, Greek yogurt, on a bed of endive with the same vinaigrette. Because it is a multi-course luncheon (cocktails and appetizer, soup, salad, entree with side, and dessert, and including wine and bread with the main meal) I opted for the simpler version.

I am also making the appetizer this month. The woman responsible for it is ill. She was hospitalized with the flu and is very weak still. I am making “Spoonable Ricotta,” which is basically ricotta flavored with lemon and herbs, a drizzle of EVOO, and served with toasted banquettes.

Sounds similar to the roasted beets Syrian style I do from the Moosewood soup and salad cookbook. I usually end up caving and throwing on feta cheese and toasted sunflower seeds which is my cheaper sub for pine nuts. I almost always par boil beets now before roasting. They seem to ALWAYS take forever to get done.

bbstx, Dorie Greenspan is a good resource. I have roasted beets in foil...works just fine.

That dressing sounds terrific! I'll have to remember that.

As a salad, I like the sound of the simpler one too. The other sounds like something to do to a bowl of quinoa to make it into lunch, which probably tastes good, but a whap! of flavors.

An aside: I don't often cook quinoa. I'm wondering what it would be like if one dressed it with that sweet/harisa/ginger vinaigrette and let it soak in for an extended time?

lpink, I picked up some chèvre. I’m thinking of passing it for anyone who wants to add it to their salad.

We are cooking from Everyday Dorie this year. This is only our second month into the cookbook. So far, everyone seems pleased.

I only have two recipes that use quinoa. One is Quinoa and Kale Minestrone. The other is tabbouleh made with quinoa instead of bulgur wheat (I also make tabbouleh with riced cauliflower). And I only make those when DD is coming for a visit. It is something I just don’t think to buy or cook.

I love roasted beets! I toss mine, cut into wedges, with olive oil, then sprinkle with fresh lime juice when done.

I love roasted beets, too. My grandmother used to pickle and can beets, and I've never found anything close to resembling hers. And I don't can, so, I prefer to roast them.

Save the greens, too. I chop, blanch, and then freeze to add to soups.

ETA just looked up harissa paste... it's going on my grocery list!

We roasted beets in foil last year but this year DH roasted them on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet -- no wrapping and no foil. I don't know if the beets we are getting this year are the same variety (same farmer and CSA) or if the open roasting makes a difference, but they have been incredible. We have eaten what we can and put up a number of jars. We've used some of the greens, but I didn't know . you could blanch and freeze them. I think we are done for this year, but I will remember that next year -- they were so fresh and pretty I would like to use them all. Thanks, Feathers!

bbstyx, I'm sending good vibes. Those golden beets actually look a lot like the beets I just picked up at my local grocery. One was bigger than the others and took a little longer, but they became tender and were mild, very nice. The red beets sans tops just didn't look very good here so I passed on those.

Beet greens are one of my favorite leafy greens, I always chop them to add to soup or cook them as greens, there's usually just enough for Elery and I.

Your salad recipe sounds interesting, I'll be watching to see how it all turns out. Stay tuned for another episode of "Beets vs. bbstyx", LOL.

Annie

Lovely too with orange segments and walnuts with a simple vinaigrette. Oranges are a lovely fresh compliment to the earthy taste of beetroot.

Lascatx, that's the way I roast them, too. I think it was probably the quality of the beets, unless you think you were picking up a taste of the foil. I roast just about anything that way, with the parchment and rimmed baking sheet (usually the ones that are fitted to my oven). Have you tried charred? Maybe not so healthy, but totally yummy.

Bbstx, here's a whole page of good cooking vibes for you. Extra for taking on the double duty.

HA! Love the page of good cooking vibes! I need it.

There are no instructions in Everyday Dorie for cooking beets. However, Around My French Table has “beets: four ways to cook them.” The four ways are steam, roast, boil, and microwave. “Roasting” calls for putting the beets in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of water, cover the pan with foil, cut a vent in the foil, and roast at 425 for 30 to 60 minutes depending on the size of the beets. That sure makes better sense than using all the aluminum foil I used last night!

If I were to follow those instructions, would I roast the red beets and the golden beets separatel? Seems like the reds might discolor the goldens if they were all cooked in the same pan.

I’ll try to post photos of the salad and the appetizer later today.

I slice them into wedges and toss w/ a couple tbs. of oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt, then roast @ 400F for about 40 minutes.

I use the enamelled bottom of a broiler pan for roasting lots of things, which makes for a nice bit of char, and is nonstick.

And I loved beets cooked with orange juice concentrate as a kid, so much so, I used to make them for myself as a snack = )

Haven't prepared them that way in years, though now I'm thinking I should...

Thanks, guys! The good vibes worked!!!

Because we had so much food, we made the salads rather small. Everyone enjoyed them. The white wine vinaigrette with harissa and honey was really good with the beets.

Both dishes look fab! As one who had a weird lunch, I'm kind of drooling. Glad to know that the dressing was as good as it sounds. What did the other members make?

Your book's "roasted" sounds more steamed to me. I do it more like Carolb, either whole or cut depending on the size of the beets, and whether I've peeled them or expect to pull the skins once they're hot and just slip off. Even if I"m not peeling them, I'll clean them up and remove the whiskers, give them a thin film of light olive oil to help them caramelize rather than char, and just lay them out on the parchment. They're usually going into another dish so I don't season, just roast.

The cocktail was a mango daiquiri, beautifully garnished. It was not from Everyday Dorie.

Bean and Tortilla Soup had a fresher flavor than most tortilla soups.

Bourbon Roasted Pork Loin with Acorn Squash Wedges. The pork loin was cooked with apples and onions, whole grain mustard, honey, and srirach. It was delicious.

This Apple Custard Crisp was divine! The ice cream was not homemade, but it was high quality. As Ina says, “store bought is fine.”

In addition to preparing the recipe as written, we do not double recipes. When we first started our group, we would double or triple the recipe to make enough for everyone to have a “serving.” We were all going home miserable. Now we just have smaller servings, and still go home plenty satisfied.

bbstyx, that all looks delicious, and the dishes are very pretty, I like those.

I think it's a good idea to just have small servings, I love a bite of this and a bite of that, it's such a nice variety that way and there's still room for dessert!

Annie

Looks like plenty of good food to set the stage for a good time together.

In case anyone is looking for another salad recipe for beets, we've made this one a couple of times and love it -- as written (either raw or roasted beets), with oranges added, on a bed of greens or not, on a bed of greens, orange sections and some grilled chicken and it's a complete meal. My picky sone even liked it.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/beet-and-apple-salad-recipe-2104184

Looks fantastic!

That all looks fabulously delicious.

One of my favorite beet salads is beets, pomegranate and toasted walnuts. I tend to use a light vinaigrette on it but that isn’t traditional. A family friend - who introduced me to this salad - was originally from the Caucuses. He just dresses with olive oil.

And like Annie I love beet greens. Maybe more than the beets. Don’t waste the greens.

Your beet dishes look fantastic, and that pork loin sounds divine...

Nicely done, bbstx!

Here is the recipe for the Bourbon Roasted Pork Loin. I made it on New Year’s Day and substituted something else for the sriracha. If you make the dish, buy the sriracha! It made all the difference in the world.

Thank-you! I can see why you put so much effort into this club. With everybody holding up their ends it makes a mighty fine spread. Thanks for the pictures, too.

YUM!

Wow, that all looks great.

As an aside please don't anyone get suckered in, as I did years ago, to the "roast 'em foil and then you can easily rub the skins off with the crumpled-up foil afterwards," which is a total lie.

Really? Rub the skins off with the foil? I tried rubbing the skins off with a paper towel (not so good), then I tried using the rubber gloves I was wearing (marginally better), and I ended up using the backside (blunt edge) of a paring knife. Peeling beets is not my favorite activity.

I have occasionally met that nirvana which is the skins shooting right off the beets. It doesn't work where there are depressions around the whiskers, or where it grew around a rock, or whatnot, and some just look blandly back at you and say "What?" in that NE, one of the boys way. I don't know if it has to do with Annie's freshness/moisture content equation or not. If I'm in a hurry, and don't want caramelization, I'll roast them skin on and take what slips off as a bonus. Otherwise, I use a potato peeler on them cold, which is easier but more busy work. I've never heard of using the foil to slough off the skin. In my experience, either the skin comes off without effort, or it's peeler time. :)

Glad that went well. We love beets. I usually roast in quarters on a parchment lined sheet pan with a couple full heads of garlic. (smaller beets just cut in half for even roasting). Lots of different warm and chilled salad choices.

The greens are super. I grow TallTop just for the greens. They go limp rather quick like chard but will perk up in a bath of cold water. Or chop stems fine and green tops in bunched slices and freeze in a container with some water or stock. (1/2 pint) then can be added to soup later. Or saute with a sliced shallot, add cubed roasted beet for a warm salad...before serving, toasted nuts and zest (orange, lemon, etc), feta or goat, avocado, cucumber. So many choices.