a recipe for beets and many other vegetables

I have no picture for last week's CSA box because we were busy trying to get out of the dang city for the fourth of July weekend. Delaying the departure to pick up the CSA was well worth it. Although I was a bit hasty with what I decided to give to my mother, I did manage to score some amazing beets.

So, vegetables like beets, turnips, parsnips, etc are what I associate with "american" cooking. These vegetables were not part of my mother's repertoire (of gujarati cooking) as I was growing up. They were relatively unknown to me until the year we began the CSA. Of course, I'd seen them at the farmer's market, but I never had the courage to buy them as I had no idea how to prepare them. The only other encounter I had with them was some strange versions of these vegetables that were served in school lunches. I assume they came fresh out of a can.

The beets in last week's box seemed like large jewels. They were shiny and wet and rich with color. The leaves had magenta veins in them and my mouth just started watering when I pulled them out of the box. I kept the whole batch for myself, in fact, it never even occurred to me to split these babies up with my mother.

I first tried the beets with a recipe that came from the farm. It was a recipe for baby turnips, but I have since found that they work great with a whole lot of vegetables.

Here is my modifies version of the recipe:

Beets with Honey Mustard Dressing
1 bunch beets, greens removed and reserved for later.
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

* cut beets into halves or quarters. Boil in a saucepan until tender (about 10 minutes)
* while beets are cooking, combine vinegar, honey, and mustard in a small bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth and set aside.
* chops beets greens.
* drain beets in colander.
* In a small saute pan, heat olive oil. Add beets and saute until lightly golden. Add vinegar-honey mixture and stir until well coated and glaze begins to bubble in the pan.
* add the beet greens and cook another 2-3 minutes until the greens wilt.

I have done this recipe with turnips, potatoes, and carrots. It's a great way to quickly cook up the some veggies. Sometime I'll try this without boiling the veggies because I dislike using up so many pans.

That's it for today. Seems like lately the weather had been affecting my mood. It's too dang hot for me and I am reluctant to sit with my laptop that just seems to heat up the rest of me. Oh well, sometime, somewhere I will figure what the heck I intend to do with this blog.