5 Ingredients or Fewer

Roasted Beet and Beet Tops Salad

by:
January  3, 2010
4.5
2 Ratings
  • Serves 6 to 8
Author Notes

Use more, toss less. The carcass from a roasted chicken or vegetable trimmings can be used to make stock, the green tops of beets can be cooked and eaten, stale bread can be turned into homemade breadcrumbs, or bacon grease can be saved and used for frying potatoes and eggs. In other words, we have decided to try to never throw away any vegetable or leftover in our kitchens, unless it has gone bad.

One of the easiest ways to save money on food is to stop throwing it away. The typical American family throws away 14 percent of all their groceries. That means that the most expensive food we buy is the food we don’t actually eat. Plus, it has taken significant amounts of energy to grow and produce the food we eat: from farming, to transportation, to processing, to cooking and then to refrigeration.
Loulies

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 3 bunches raw red or yellow beets with their tops, about 6-8 beets
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper
  • Freshly-squeezed lemon juice
  • Good olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut tops off beets and trim root ends. Wash in cold water and wrap whole beets in foil with a tight seal. Put in upper part of oven and roast for about 1 hour. Let cool in foil pack for about 20 minutes. While they are still slightly warm, pull off skin and cut into thin slices. Toss with salt, pepper, a good quantity of olive oil and the juice of one lemon. Let stand.
  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Pull beet greens away from stem and wash. Place in boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and shake off extra moisture. When they have cooled, but are still slightly warm, chop a bit and toss with salt, olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar.
  3. To serve, place greens on a platter and pour beets on top.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Lefty
    Lefty
  • AntoniaJames
    AntoniaJames

2 Reviews

Lefty February 5, 2013
New data is showing over 40% food waste.
 
AntoniaJames January 3, 2010
14% seems low. That must be an average. Populations that eat traditional foods (i.e., the foods that their parents' and grandparents' generations ate) tend to throw almost nothing away. They aren't attracted to heavily marketed/branded foods that don't taste good and don't satisfy. Nor do they throw stuff away because they don't know what to do with it, or don't have time to prepare it. Thanks for posting this. Beet greens are so underappreciated. I love putting them in hearty winter soups. They're great lightly steamed, chopped and tossed with a light vinaigrette, too.