What beats beets?

I had the tastiest, most beautiful dinner last night. Here it is in all its splendour.

Beets in a garlic walnut dressing and a sauteed kale and poached egg sandwich. A glass of red wine, two chocolate chip cookies, and couple episodes of The Sopranos. What more could a girl want?

I first tried the beet salad, a Mark Bittman recipe, at Steve and Sareh's place. It was devastatingly good. It was Laura Calder who pointed out that beets, when cooked nicely, can taste like candy. 

By the way, when we had this salad at Steve and Sareh's it was accompanied by two other Mark Bittman recipes that have found their way into my kitchen numerous times now. Definitely worth checking out his broccoli rabe pasta and the Mexican tofu chocolate pudding (when serving the pudding do not mention it is tofu - they'll never know!). 

But back to the beets. You scrub them, wrap them in tin foil, and bake for about an hour. They're so sweet and soft once cooked. They kind of remind me of turkish delight... though the actual flavours are nothing alike. Pop a piece in your mouth while they're still warm and just let it melt, the juices running down the back of your tongue. I love a good dinner like this, where just the memory of it is oh so satisfying.

The sweetness of the beets is balanced by the strong and stinky garlic-walnut dressing. Quite a lot of garlic goes into it, but you fry the garlic before adding it to the food processor, bringing out its natural sweetness, so the contrast between the garlic and beets is not so severe.

We had our salad with a sandwich of boiled (5minutes), and then sauteed (salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon) kale, with a poached egg on a lightly toasted baguette. If you make this sandwich, which I highly, highly recommend you make to go with the salad, make sure the yolk is still runny. That way, when you put the top piece of baguette down to complete the sandwich, tasty yolk saturates the bread and kale. 

Things got barbaric on John's plate:

Beets With Garlic-Walnut Sauce

2 pounds red beets, about 4 large beets, greens trimmed

1/4 cup olive oil

6 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup walnuts

2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (I used apple juice last night - worked great)

salt and pepper to taste

fresh parsley for garnish

1. Wash beets. While still wet wrap in foil. Bake at 400F for 60-90 minutes on a cookie sheet or roasting pan.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and softening, about 6 minutes. Add walnuts and cook another four minutes. Put mixture in a food processor and process until you have a relatively smooth paste. Scrape sides as you go. Add juice, salt and pepper, and process one more time until well incorporated.

3. When the beets are done you should be able to pierce with a knife with little or no resistance. Let cool, and the peel and chop into cubes. Toss with dressing, and serve with parsley.