I had an oh sh&* moment this week when I started peeling my beautiful beets from the farm stand only to realize that they looked mostly white(!?) inside. I paused for a moment and looked at my 2 year old and said, “Did we buy radishes?”. My mind tried to go back in time to what the sign said at the farm stand, but all I could see was the 2 year old helping herself to handfuls of pickling cukes while I tried to pay. I’m not sure I even looked at the sign because, come on, these were clearly beets. I continued to inspect my half peeled beets, smelled them, even tried to FaceTime with my mom because surely SHE would know if I had bought radishes instead of beets. Do radishes even come that big? I debated this while the 2 year old chanted over and over again “You bought radishes, you bought radishes!”.
So, after some championship googling, I came to the conclusion that I was the proud owner of striped beets (also called candy cane beets or chioggia beets). Some people think they look super cool, but I’m still partial to the deep, beautiful color of the regular old beet we all know and love. Turns out though, they both taste equally awesome.
There’s a roasted beet and potato salad recipe that’s burning a hole in my pocket right now, but until I have a chance to give it a whirl, I’ll have to leave you with this old tried and true way to serve beets with dinner. If your family loves beets too, make a good two pounds. One is just never enough in this household.
- 1 bunch beets (roughly 1 pound)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
- Peel and slice the beets into 1-inch pieces
- Toss the beets in olive oil, place them on a baking sheet with the thyme sprigs and sprinkle with salt and pepper
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until beets are fork tender.