Roasted Beets and Spring Onions

The other day I wrote about roasting fennel and mentioned that it made for a great side dish with roasted beets and onions. The truth is, I have yet to find a vegetable that doesn’t taste good roasted! Since beets and spring onions are in season, that’s what I had on hand and they were so easy to cook up.

Many people shy away from cooking with fresh beets because they are afraid it’s too much work (or that their entire kitchen will be stained from them!). But cooking with beets really isn’t difficult, and once you have fresh beets it’s quite hard to go back to the canned variety. The easiest way to cook them is as follows:

• Rinse beets and scrub to remove any dirt if they came fresh from the farm. (If your beets come attached with beet greens, cut off the greens and save for a salad.)
• Toss beets with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in a 375 degree F oven for about 20-30 minutes, until they are fork tender.
• Remove from the oven and let cool. When cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to remove the outside skin. It should come off very easily. (If you’re afraid of staining, you can wear plastic gloves while removing the skin.)
• Serve roasted beets as a side dish or add to a salad (I especially love the combo of beets and goat cheese!).

Here are before and after shots of spring red onions and farm-fresh beets:

Looking for another beet recipe? Try this Beet and Beet Green Gratin that Nutritioulicious intern Jo made last summer!

FYI: Consumption of beets can turn your urine and stool a red color. So if you start peeing red and you ate beets within a day or two, don’t worry!

Do you like beets? What’s your favorite way to eat them?