I find that most people are either emphatically anti-beet or enthusiastically pro-beet. For most of my life I had seriously disliked beets. I thought they tasted like dirt and I was a bit freaked out at the purple stains it would leave on everything. Then one day I completely switched sides and started to love beets. I find them sweet and refreshing. Especially good with blue cheese and walnuts for a filling salad. Also, they are really good for you.
Beets are a root vegetable and packed with antioxidants, vitamin C, and betaines which improve cardiovascular health. They contain a good amount of fiber, are low in fat and calories, and yet they pretty much taste like candy.
This past Saturday I was home– a pleasant change since I’ve been traveling a lot over the past few months. I made a trip to the Inwood Farmers Market, which I haven’t seen in over a month. Tables were laden with summer produce, including a lot of different kinds of beets… golden beets, red beets, baby beets, striped beets. Beets all over! I grabbed a bunch of red beets for $2.00. There were two huge bulbs and 3 smaller ones.
I wanted to do something different with my beets this time rather than just making a salad. While I love the taste of beets, the deep red/purple juice still troubles me a bit. It stains my fingers, my clothes, and frankly, even affects bodily functions if you’ve eaten a lot of beets in one sitting. It’s true. But it can also transform food into a crazy, stunning color that is as pretty as it is delicious.
I came across this recipe for penne with roasted beet sauce from Bev Cooks. I was captivated by the purple hue of this pasta and had to try it myself. I roasted the beets the day before and then refrigerated them so they were nice and cool and easy to handle today.
Hey Beet, you are royally juicy.
I cut off the rough tops and sliced them into chunks. There is no need to peel a whole beet. If it is cool, the skin will just slip off like a banana peel once you begin to cut them into chunks.
Freshly skinned
Meanwhile, I wrapped a bulb of garlic in foil and roasted it in my toaster oven for about 15 minutes. I unwrapped it, squeezed the roasted cloves out of the skins, mashed the cloves slightly, and added to my beets, with a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper.
Mmm. Garlic.
I threw all of this into a blender with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil to start, and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan. It was some work to blend this into a smooth texture. I added more olive oil as I went along, and finally a splash of water.
This purple is indeed found in nature
I boiled some spaghetti in salted water. I forgot to buy penne at the supermarket! But I had spaghetti at home and this turned out just as good.
Spaghetti time!
After the spaghetti was cooked (al dente) I drained it and saved 1 cup of pasta water. I put the beet puree in the pot and added a pat of butter and same pasta water to thin it. Bev’s recipe called for chicken or vegetable stock and some heavy cream. I’m sure that would have been amazing but I didn’t have any of those on hand. And I wanted to keep the sauce not too heavy. I also tossed in a can of chickpeas for some protein.
When the sauce was smooth and bubbly, I added the pasta back in and coated it. Wow, did it turn bright purple! I served it up with some more grated parm, crumbled feta, and some fresh basil lives from my (still alive) plant. End result? SO GOOD.
Purple spaghetti in a purple bowl. This is sweet, garlicky, salty, cheesy, nutty. Everything good in one bowl.
If you roast the beets ahead of time, this is a 30-minute meal! A weeknight life saver. Other pluses: it’s vegetarian (can be vegan if you skip the cheese), packed with protein and vitamins, and fiber (even more so if you use whole wheat pasta).
I had some extra beet sauce which I will store in the freezer for another time.
Spaghetti with Roasted Beet Sauce
(Adapted from Bev Cooks)
3 medium beets
1 bulb garlic
1 lb spaghetti
1 can chickpeas
3 tbsp olive oil + a bit more
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup parmesan
1/4 cup crumbled feta
A few fresh basil leaves
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400. Scrub beets clean and sprinkle with 1 tbsp olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. Wrap each one tightly in aluminum foil. Place beets in oven for about 20-25 min. Then reduce heat to 350 and roast for additional 20 minutes or until a sharp knife stuck into a foil covered beet pierces it easily. Remove from oven and let cool completely. *You can do this a day in advance and refrigerate the foil-wrapped beets.
When beets are cool, unwrap them, slice off the rough tops, and slice them into about 1 to 1/2 inch chunks. The skin should just slip off as you slice it.
Meanwhile, wrap a bulb of garlic in aluminum foil and roast at 400 for 15-20 minutes, until fragrant. Remove and let cool. When cool, unwrap and squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins. Slightly mash the cloves and add them to the beet chunks.
Boil and large pot of salted water and add spaghetti when it is a rolling boil.
While spaghetti is cooking, put the beets, garlic, balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup of parmesan, and remaining olive oil to a blender or food processor. Pulse/puree until smooth. You may need to stop and add more olive oil as you go, or a splash of water (or chicken stock) to smoothen things. Add some salt and pepper to taste.
Drain pasta but reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
In the same pot you used for the pasta (or in a heavy saucepan) pour in the beet mixture and gently heat. Add the butter and stir till dissolved. When it starts to bubble gently, add the chickpeas and simmer. If the sauce is looking really thick, add some pasta water little by little until it loosens.
When the sauce has reached your desired consistency (it should be about as thick as jarred tomato sauce), add the pasta back in and toss gently to coat. Make sure you coat it evenly to get that awesome color on your pasta.
Serve in bowls, sprinkled with the feta and remaining parmesan. Garnish with fresh basil and freshly cracked black pepper.
All photography is (c) Girl and Fork. 2012.
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