Recipe: Oven-roasted Golden Beets

I was smitten by produce today. We have a new addition to the produce dept at our local Freddy's. His name is Andrew and, just let me say, this guy really knows how to stack his vegetables. The organic display looked amazing! And, right smack in the middle of it (sadly you can barely see them in this pic) were these lovely yellowish orange roots. The sign labeled them "organic gold beets." I stopped to gawk, thinking, "Gods, those things are gorgeous!" but my inner critic came back with, "Yeah, but they're BEETS." I don't care for beets. So I kept walking. 

Finally, after my third trip down the isle for one more peek, I pulled out my iPad and did a quick search for gold beets. There, almost at the top of the list, at Tiny Urban Kitchen, a recipe for oven roasted golden beets. Almost elegant in its simplicity, it touted the virtues of the golden cousin of that nasty red root. That was all it took. I bought two of them. Dinner will reveal if I've stumbled into lasting relationship or succumbed to a disappointing fling. Wish me luck!

I altered the recipe slightly by adding rosemary and garlic to the mix. Here they are, ready to go into the oven. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a pic before peeling and dicing them. You'll have to trust me that they were beautiful.

 

After roasting, they were quite tasty, though I think they could have cooked a bit longer. In total, I roasted them for 35 minutes ... ten minutes longer than the recipe instructed and they were still firm though not quite to the point of being crunchy. I think another 10 minutes would have been about perfect. They went quite well with the lemon herb chicken and garlic pepper green beans.

In summary, I used two whole golden beets, probably about a tablespoon of olive oil (I drizzled, so I didn't measure) salt, pepper, dried rosemary and roasted garlic powder. Roasted at 400°F for 35 minutes and, as mentioned earlier, I would have given them another 10 if everything else hadn't already finished up. Plus, we were starving. They were very good anyway, but I think they would have been even better if a bit more tender.

So far, it looks promising for this new relationship. With less than half the calories and carbs of potatoes, these make a good substitute for the carb/calorie conscious. And, honestly, you are losing nothing in the flavor department. They don't get nearly as mushy as turnips or cauliflower and are just a little bit sweet. Sweeter than red potatoes but not as sweet as sweet potatoes. Yeah, in there somewhere. I enjoyed them guilt-free and will definitely make them again.