Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Fresh Harvard Beets?

My wife picked up some fresh beets at the farmers market this AM. She is checking cookbooks for a recipe for fresh Harvard Beets. Recipes all call for canned beets. I mentioned this forum. Any good recipes out there. Thanks.

Steamed until almost tender. Beet tops are better than spinach, IMO.

Harvard Beets are super sweet. You've got to make a simple syrup and add salt and vinegar. I can't stand them.... Too sweet. I cook beets with an inch of green attached to prevent bleeding. After a soak in cold water, I peel them, slice them, and add a little thin sliced onion and simple oil and vinegar Italian dressing. That's how I like beets.

My dad always liked them deep fried with some other kind of potatoes like sweet,or yukons, and then sea salt shaken on them,I have used other exotic vegetables to mix in with them.I don't have my recipe with me,but this sounds close to it.
Ingredients:
Beet Chips

4 x red beets, peeled
3 cups peanut oil
sea salt




Beet Chips

1. Slice beets thinly (as in potato chip thinness) on a mandolin.
2. In a medium pot over medium high heat, bring oil to 350�F. In small handful-size batches, deep-fry beets for approximately 60 seconds, or until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Season with salt immediately.
They cook up fast


If your watching your calories * 4 beets, scrubbed do not peel
1 Tbsp. olive oil
sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using the slicing blade of your food processor, a mandolin or a sharp knife, slice beets thinly. You want them to be the size of a potato chip. Toss with olive oil and salt. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Roast 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning halfway through, until crisp. Check often to make sure they don't burn.

Harvard Beets

Ingredients:

2 lbs Beets ; (900 g) medium-sized, tops removed
1/3 cup (160 ml) sugar
2 Tbs (30 ml) cornstarch (cornflour)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (250 ml) cider vinegar
1/4 cup (60 ml) orange juice

Instructions:

Boil the beets in lightly salted water for 40 to 45 minutes, until tender. Drain and allow to cool. Peel and trim the ends, then cut into thin slices.

In a saucepan mix the remaining ingredients and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and becomes clear, about 5 minutes.

Add the beets to the pan and turn gently in the sauce to coat them. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 5 to 10 minutes, until the beets are heated through. Serves 6 to 8.

Mine are almost ready to pick - and darned if I'm not going out of town for two weeks. Might not get to eat any at all! Crap.

I like things simple. Wash well, trim tops to an inch (RobP is right, it stops bleeding) and bring to a boil in enough water to cover. Lower heat to just above simmer until done - pierce with a fork to test. Peel, then quarter or cube. If serving immediately, drizzle with butter and sea salt.

If using them in a recipe that calls for canned/pickled beets, stop before the butter drizzle. Allow peeled and cubed beets to cool and then proceed with the recipe.

My mother used to make a great cold beet salad with hard boiled eggs. Sure wish I had that recipe.

Now that sounds good! ( Just by the way, I would imagine that Fresh Harvard "Beets" Stale Yale would it not?)

Additionally, don't cut the root or the tops too close to the beet or all the color will fade.

M

We tried Lynn's recipe. Outstanding. I told my wife about leaving some stem on due to fading and she laughed, like everyone knows that. Not me. I suppose she hasn't cooked at the Head Start Program here for 32 yrs for nothing. Life is good.

just wanted to let you know. I know some people cut them off like radishes and wonder where all the color goes.

32 years cooking for Head Start???? What the heck you askin' us for a recipe for!!!????


M

I love them deep fried with sweet potatoes and Yukons and shaken in a paper bag with curry powder and a little salt. Serve with a dip made of half plain yogurt and half sour cream with some dried mint, or a little blot of curry paste mixed in.

Yeah, 32 yrs of 20 tots for breakfast and lunch, then a different 20 tots for lunch and snacks, and of course the help, everyday. If someone in our families needs a whole ham or a couple of turkeys with dressing cooked, she doesn't even flinch. We never have fresh beets, and she could not find her recipe. You couldn't haul her cookbooks in a S-10 pickup.

I retired 10 yrs ago and she was so pleased. She still works and after a while I started to notice a little resentment building. I covered that, with a couple of days a week when she walks in the door from work, she smells something cooking. That puts a smile on her face. I have become a champion of cast enamel ovens and soup, chili, and one pot meals. I don't use the crockpot that often, but I'm learning a new respect for them since we got a larger one for Christmas. Life is good.

croldfort,

Glad you folks liked the recipe. I am about to head to a local farmer's market and see if there are any fresh beets available, I think a serving or two for myself would not go amiss. I surely do love them

Lynn

Found an easy way to peel the beets. After they are cooked just rub with a paper towel and the skins slip right off.