Sunday, February 5, 2012

Beet Greens...who knew?

Call me weird but I love beets. Always have. My mom and I use to eat pickled beets with salt as a side dish all the time. I love fresh beets as well but to be honest, don't make them that often. Especially since the husband is not a fan of beets. At all.

I recently came across a recipe for Beet chips. Lately, I have been craving the crunchy/salty combo so I thought this would be a good healthy alternative. So when I was at the produce stand, I picked up one bunch of fresh beets. The cashier asked " You aren't going to throw away these greens are you"? I of course had planned to do just that. She told me to cook it like I would spinach, that they are delicious. Since it was lunch time when I got back from my errands, I was more intrigued by the idea of cooking the greens then I was making beet chips.
Here is what I did:

1) Cut the beets from their stems. Beets got stored in a Ziploc bag and put back in the fridge.



2) Wash the greens and dry them in the salad spinner. I left mine on the wet side as I was planning on steaming them anyway.
3) Cut the leafy part away from the "red" stem. Dice the stems into small pieces. Throw in a plan with some chicken broth. Put the lid on and let them simmer (They stems take slightly longer to soften then the greens).




4) Once the stems have simmered for a few minutes, drain them in the strainer, return them to the pan with a touch of olive oil, a tbsp of crushed garlic and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to taste ( We like a kick). Add the greens and the lid and simmer until wilted ( much like you would spinach).

This is the last picture I have, the battery died in the camera!
I am not going to lie, these were DELICIOUS! The husband agreed to take a bite and then said "These are freaking amazing". That night I had my grandma over for dinner and told her about my beet green cooking adventure. She stated her mother use to cook them all the time and she grew up eating them. So am I curious, I am the only one just finding out about beet greens?

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