The other day, I was leafing through years of journals that I’ve kept documenting the bounty from “the Farm,” our local CSA organization, looking for a recipe I vaguely remembered. I was amused to see so many entries about beets and beet greens. At least one or two a year! And pretty much on the same topic, with minor variations. I would typically come home from the Farm with a couple of unwieldy bunches of beets with beautiful tops. Storing them wisely meant separating the greens from the roots, which I reported in the journal and then waxed on about beets’ being related to chard and blah blah blah. As if I hadn’t said that a few times before.
Typically I roasted the beets in the oven, or steamed them if small or cubed, and then served them atop the greens, shallow-boiled, drained, and sprinkled with olive oil and salt. Very simple, very tasty. The variations came in the type and color of both the beets and the tops. The Farm grows quite a few varieties: dark red with red tops, dark red with green tops, and pink-striped and golden yellow beauties.
When I went to the final gleaning event closing out the season, I spied a field of beets with dark red tops, small and scraggly but in very good shape. So once again, here we have beets on beets. The color was gorgeous but so dark in combination that I couldn’t photograph the beets by themselves, so I sprinkled on feta cheese and walnuts and served them at room temperature as a salad.
PROSPECT THE PANTRY 