OOOO WEEE OOOO Killer Tofu!

For the most part, I am NOT a fan of Beets. They look funny, taste funny and tend to dye any dish they are paired with bright red. So when the farm box gave me beets my first instinct was to throw them back. However with the pickings being so slim this week, I felt compelled to use the only interesting item in some way for this blog. I tried to remember if there was ever a time I ate beets with abandon, or noted them in an interesting culinary technique. I recalled a meal The Husband and I enjoyed on our honeymoon in Iceland. We were in Vik (which by the way means "village"), we had just spent the day hiking glaciers and seeing ice floes. It was 7:00 at night, the sun wouldn't be setting for another 5 hours, we were exhausted and hungry and we stopped in this little place with "puffin" in the name for dinner. One of the appetizers we ordered was cured horse meat with pickled beets. I remember the horse meat being delicious, and I know I cleaned my plate, I'm even positive I said something like "hmmm I don't usually like beets but these are good."  Of course all this could have been the Icelandic air, romantic atmosphere and general jet lag, but if I liked pickled beets once before, I may just like them again. 

The first step is to clean the beets, removing the greens and the roots, and scrubbing away the excess dirt.

Then, in order to assist the brine into the beets, they need to be cooked in some way. Some recipes said to boil them (the recipe I used actually recommended this, I ignored it) others said to roast them. Roasting. For some reason inexplicable now, I chose to roast them. This involves wrapping them in tin foil and roasting at 400 degrees for 60 minutes (checking every 20). Watch your hands, clothes, everything, when they finally come out of the oven, things get messy. 

After they come out, I ran them under cold water until they were cool enough to handle, and, using the edge of a spoon like I do for ginger, peel off the remaining skin. I then chopped the bigger beets down into pieces the size of the smaller beets so they would pickle evenly, and threw them into a large jar while I prepped the brine. Amateur tip: clean up as you go along or the beet juice will stain everything and anything it touches
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For the brine, I combined 2 cups of water (the recipe called for the beet water I was supposed to boil the beets in, but ah well), 3/4 of a cup of cider vinegar, a tablespoon of pickling spices, and a 1/2 cup of sugar. Boil until the sugar melts and then pour over the beets. The final step is to let the beets pickle for at least 24 hours in the fridge.

The End Result: 

THE VERDICT:
It's official, I do NOT like Beets. Blech Blech Blech. 

(PS if you got the joke in the title you MAY have grown up in the 90's)

The Recipe:
Recipe credit goes to The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook and can be found HERE.

• 2 bunches beets with tops (2 pounds)
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoons pickling spices 

1. Trim the beets. Wrap in tinfoil (large beets should be wrapped individually, smaller beets can be wrapped together. Place in a 400 degree oven for about 60 minutes, checking every 20 minutes for doneness (fork tender). OR In 5-quart Dutch oven, combine beets and enough water to cover; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain, reserving 2 cups beet liquid. 
2. When cool enough to handle, peel and cut. Place in a large jar 
3. In nonreactive 1-quart saucepan, heat reserved beet liquid, vinegar, sugar, and pickling spices over medium heat, stirring frequently, just until sugar has dissolved; pour over beets, and refrigerate overnight.