Beet Greens and Beet Pickles

  

- Amanda

Thrifty in the kitchen. Generous at the table. That would be the cooking mantra I grew up with.

If you bought beets, you'd use both the tops and the roots. Here I'd like to share two beet recipes my mother and grandmother have been making this summer. When I was visiting my mother in Florida, she whipped up a batch of gingered beet pickles every couple of days, and served them with sandwiches at lunch, and on burger night. They come from Matt Lee and Ted Lee's latest book The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern.

My grandmother, who also makes the Lee Bros. pickles, steams beet greens in water and dresses them with a little balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. The sour cream dressing is one she makes for salads. I combined the two. Because isn't that what's supposed to happen to family recipes?

Warm Beet Greens with Sour Cream Dressing

Adapted from Helen Getz, my grandmother

Serves 2 to 4

 

 

• 1/2 cup sour cream (not lowfat)

• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• Greens from 2 bunches (8 to 10) medium beets, trimmed and washed
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See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

 

Gingered Beet Pickles

Adapted from The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

Makes 1 quart

• One 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/8-inch thick disks
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
  
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/4 pound beets, peeled and very thinly sliced (using a mandoline, if you have one)
•  

 

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

 

 

At my grandmother's table with my husband, kids, and sister, Rhonda. My mother, in the kitchen of our old house.