Here's one of my favorites:

MOROCCAN BEET SALAD

6 to 8 Medium Beets
Juice of 1 Lemon
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Teaspoon Cumin, or to taste
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
one quarter Cup Minced Fresh Parsley

Wrap Beets in foil and roast at 400 degrees F until tender to the point of a knife. Cool and slice into one quarter inch slices. Place in a serving bowl.

In a small bowl, place Lemon Juice, Garlic, Cumin and Salt and Pepper, whisk in Olive Oil, and pour over Beets. Let sit for a few hours. Sprinkle with Parsley just before serving.

Steve

Recipes for fresh eating or for canning and preserving?

Dave

My favorite:

Russian Beet and Potato Vinaigrette Salad
(I highly recommend peeling and chopping while seated and listening to music--makes the prep go faster)

2 or 3 beets (medium)
2 or 3 medium potatoes
3 or 4 medium carrots
1/2 medium-large yellow or white onion
1 can petite green peas (counter-intuitively, fresh peas are not better in this)
3 or 4 dill pickle spears
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:
1/2 tsp sugar
3 Tbsp white vinegar
1/3 c cold water
1 tsp dried dill weed or a handful fresh dill, finely chopped

Peel the potatoes, carrots and beets. Chop finely into evenly sized pieces the size of peas. Boil the carrots and potatoes in salted water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Boil the beets until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes, separately from the others unless you want everything to be purple. Rinse the boiled veggies with cold water to stop cooking. (I give the beets an extra few rinses to avoid overly dying my salad purple.)

Dice the onions. Dice the pickles. Put all the veggies in the bowl, starting with onions and ending with pickles (My Russian friend insists that is important). Mix the veggies carefully. Mix dressing in a small bowl and whisk thoroughly. Pour over salad, mix once or twice, then cover and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

I also highly recommend googling borscht recipes. Beets are delicious as long as you don't pickle them. Russian food is also delicious, but this salad is all I know how to make. Translated and authentic recipes seem to be hard for me to find.

Good luck!

Adnama, what do you mean? pickled beets are great! To each his or her own I guess.

Co Worker makes a Beet and Potato Salad.

Boil beets and potato's (separately). Cuts them in 1/2 in cubes. Adds diced onions, celery, Real Mayo, chopped parsley, Salt and pepper.

Cook beets, slip skins and dice and cool. Add blue cheese and walnuts and oil and vinegar dressing. Delicious.

Beet and pineapple salad is pretty good, several recipes out there on the web for this.

We use golden beets these days - same taste, better aesthetics.

Hard to beat pickled beets IMO but Harvard Beets aren't bad either. Lots of recipes available for Harvard Beets.

Dave

Thanks everyone!
Personally I prefer most veggies cooked, my wife is the opposite! I figure after being married 25 years if this is our battle I'm thrilled. So please keep sending me both. Cooked & raw, don't do much canning anymore but we do a lot of freezing.
Thanks
Ed

I can them:http://proverbsthirtyonewoman.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-can-canning-beets.html

Then mostly use them in borscht, a delectable stew: http://proverbsthirtyonewoman.blogspot.com/2010/02/family-favorite-borscht.html

I add raw, peeled, fresh or frozen beets to my smoothies. They don't add much flavor but turn the drink a beautiful pink color and give a lot of nutrition.

One Thanksgiving I made 'scalloped beets', just as you'd think it was basically scalloped potatoes with alternating layers of beets. Don't have the recipe any more but I'm sure you could find it on the web.

Recently at a restaurant I had a nice steak that was sliced and placed atop fingers of roasted beets (beets that were roasted, the sliced like large french fries). The two flavors of beef and beet work great together!

I add some shredded to cole slaw.....about 2/3 rd cabbage (or kohlrabi) 2/9th carrot, and 1/9 beets - if that makes any sense at all....I just eyeball it.

Shredded as above in a beet and carrot salad. I little earthy but good. Also beet yogurt salad (with mint and garlic) is good.

This is my favorite. It has the advantage of using both the beets and the greens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/health/nutrition/27recipehealth.html
March 27, 2009
Recipes for Health
Farro Salad With Beets, Beet Greens and Feta
By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

Farro is a sturdy grain that stands up well to such lusty ingredients as beet greens. The flavor is sweet and nutty, and it contrasts nicely with salty feta or goat cheese. The farro will absorb the color from red beets, giving this salad a pinkish tint. Be sure to cook the farro until tender, or else the salad will be chewy.

2 medium or 3 small beets (any color) with greens, the beets roasted, the greens stemmed and washed in two changes of water

1 cup farro, soaked for one hour in water to cover and drained

Salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 small garlic clove, minced or pureed

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (may substitute 1 to 2 tablespoons walnut oil for 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil)

1/2 cup broken walnut pieces

2 ounces feta or goat cheese, crumbled (more if desired for garnish)

1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, marjoram, chives, mint

1. Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, add salt to taste and the greens. Blanch for two minutes, and transfer to the ice water. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop coarsely and set aside.

2. Bring the water back to a boil, and add the farro. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes, stirring from time to time, or until the farro is tender. Remove from the heat and allow the grains to swell in the cooking water for 10 minutes, then drain.

3. While the farro is cooking, make the vinaigrette. Whisk together the vinegars, salt, garlic and mustard. Whisk in the oil(s). Add to the farro. Peel and dice the beets and add, along with the beet greens, feta or goat cheese, herbs and walnuts. Toss together, and serve warm or room temperature with a little more cheese sprinkled over the top if you wish.

Yield: Serves eight

Advance preparation: The roasted beets and cooked beet greens will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator, and the cooked farro for five days. You can assemble this salad hours or even a day ahead; it will redden with time.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/health/nutrition/27recipehealth.html

I boil the beets until a fork pierces easily, slip off the skins while juggling hot beets, and slice. Next put 1/4 c balsamic vinegar, and 1/2 c blood orange juice in sauce pan and bring to boil. Reduce till by half. Add sliced beets and warm through. We DON'T have left overs on this one!

I roast the beets in foil with olive oil until fork pierces (usually takes about 1 - 1.5 hours) then slice. (I also just used this with my home canned beets straight out of the jar last night and they were fabulous.)

I then make one of two sauces:

Sauce 1:
2 tbs honey
2 tbs butter
2 tbs balsamic vinegar

sauce 2:
juice of 1 orange
2 tbs sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
zest of orange

Either way add ingredients to pan heat till bubbling (just about 3 minutes), add beets, heat through and serve.

I prefer the orange glaze, however, both my 2 and 3 year old will clean their plate if I make the honey method so depending on what else is for dinner that sometimes wins.

Kalindi

Simplest of all. Scrub and chunk if large then add to any other roots eg carrots, parsnips, potatoes, fennel, swede, celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, turnip and roast. In winter we have mixed roast veggies all the time.

Harvard Beets are also good. Or boil in their skins, slip skins off under the tap, cut up and make any kind of salad dressing. Toss the still warm beets in it.

Oh and of course Borscht. You will find many recipes for this, some more fiddly than others.

This is a variation on a theme from above.

Roast beets till easily pierced with a fork.

Cool enough to handle, then slip the skins.
Slice.

Top slices with goat cheese and toasted walnuts (I prefer the bitterness of black walnuts, but most people do not)

Drizzle with boiled cider and serve at room temperature.

Boiled cider (for those who haven't tried it) is fresh cider boiled down to a syrup. I boil mine a tad thicker than maple syrup.

One gallon yields about a pint and is shelf stable if stored in a sterilized jar/bottle.
It's useful in dressings, marinades, etc.

Deborah

At this very moment I am making Golden Beet soup. I assume this would work just as well with red beets. The recipe makes A LOT - I will have a meal for tonight (for 2) (with buttermilk,scallion, black pepper biscuits) and 2 meals for the freezer.

Golden Beet Soup

Peel and cut into 1/2" cubes 8 - 9 cups of beets (about 9 2 1/2" beets)
Chop 4 cups of onions
Mince 4 t. fresh ginger
Grate the peel of 1 lemon

Melt 6T butter in a large pot. Add the beets, onion, ginger,lemon peel. Cook at medium heat, covered, 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add 6 cups chicken stock. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, covered, until beets are tender, about 1 hour. Allow to cool about 20 minutes.

Puree soup in blender of food processor. (An immersion blender would be wonderful here - I wish I had one.)
Return to pot, warm and add 2T lemon juice. Serve with a dollop of sour cream with dill or chives.

I also love Deborah Madison's 5 minute beets. (Which actually take about 15v minutes.)
Just peel and grate beets. Saute in olive oil with salt and pepper for about 7 -8 minutes. Add a dash of vinegar. You can also add some sour cream - they turn an amazing fushia color.