I’m not a lover of beets. I’m not alone in that consideration; a lot of people don’t love beets. I imagine it’s nervous-making, publishing a beet recipe. The cookbook author must sit at the computer, just knowing that readers will skip right past it, onto something with potatoes, or carrots, anything but beets.
I’m don’t dislike beets so much that I’ll skip right past — I’ll read the recipe. Might even make a mental note to try it someday. But in all my years of cooking, I’ve only ever tried one beet recipe. Two, if you count this one today.
It’s not that I hate beets. I don’t. I flew over the moon when I tasted the smoked beets with halibut at Saul in Brooklyn. At Town House, too, the foie gras with beets nearly killed me dead, it was so good. I’m not a hater, no, but a non-lover, which means I’m game to have others serve beets to me, but I’m hard-pressed to exert my own cooking-energy on them.
Milk House Farm, however, has been showcasing beets at their farm stand lately. They grow a handful of different varieties, all gorgeous gems, and all impossible to pass up. Adding to that, I’ve been on a quasi-diet of small-portion, vegetable-heavy dinners, in the attempt to slim down to my ideal weight for our wedding (a hard thing to do, considering I can’t exercise because of my back — though, I’m happy ecstatic to report brag that I’ve lost 15 pounds already) so beets went into my grocery bag recently.
I found a recipe with beets and shrimp marinated in ginger from Jean Georges Vongerichten in the New York Times. New York Times recipes in general prove to be delicious, and recipes by Jean Georges hardly ever disappoint. So I cooked some beets. Roasted them, to be exact.
After they were roasted, I started to tweak the recipe. I added an orange, and swapped balsamic vinegar for the sherry. I sauteed rather than grilled the shrimp (since the shrimp is only cooked for a minute or two, it’s not worth starting up the grill) and dressed the beets a little sooner than the recipe called for.
It came together fabulously — I’d done it! I cooked beets. And I loved them. The in-your-face sweetness of beets works here, since it’s tempered by the ginger — whose pungent flavor lingers in the shrimp, in the dressing. I’d say you could have the salad of dressed beets and orange by itself, with a hefty sprinkling of chives, but the shrimp (browned and crisp, marinated just long enough for the ginger to saturate without overwhelming), perched atop the salad so that the juices drip and mix into the dressing, really completes the dish.
So, here’s the recipe. (For those of you smart people who haven’t skipped past to the next non-beet blog post by now.)
Gingered-Beet Salad
serves 4 (small portions)
adapted (heavily) from Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Gingered-Beet Salad recipe
4 medium beets, scrubbed well
1 pound large shrimps, shelled
1 tablespoons canola oil
1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated (divide grated ginger into two lumps)
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (1 tablespoon will be used for shrimp, 3 for beet dressing)
2 tablespoons good, fruity extra-virgin olive oil
1 orange, segmented
kosher or good sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons 1/2-inch-length chives
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the beets in two layers of aluminum foil and roast until fork-tender, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Cool, peel and cut the beets into small chunks and set aside.
Toss the shrimps in a mixture made from 1 tablespoon of the oil, half of the grated ginger and 1 tablespoon of the vinegar. Marinate for 1 hour.
Make dressing for the beets: In a medium bowl, add some salt and pepper and balsamic, then slowly add in olive oil, whisking constantly to emulsify. Add beet and orange segments and mix well to dress everything evenly.
Take shrimp from marinade and salt and pepper all over. Heat a pan over medium-high (or a touch higher) heat with a little bit of canola oil. Add shrimp to the pan and cook until well-browned (about 2 minutes per side, or up to 5 minutes total).
Arrange dressed beets on a platter. Sprinkle with chives and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place shrimp on top of beets and sprinkle on a few more chives and some extra salt and pepper (if needed). Serve hot or at room temperature.
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July 20, 2010 at 9:52 pm
wow this looks incredible! love prawns, love beetroot, love ginger, love orange. Going to try this very soon!
July 21, 2010 at 9:56 am
I absolutely love beets, always have since I had my first one that didn’t come out of a can. They make perfect salad meals, not to mention that deep purple is an amazing color. The recipe looks great, the shrimp perfect. Thank you for posting this!
July 21, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Did you know Daddy loves beets? You may have to share this recipe with him, or better yet make it for us (:
July 22, 2010 at 9:22 am
This does sound yummy.
Have you ever tried Laurie Colwin’s beet with rosemary & garlic over pasta? Very earthy. I do love it.
July 22, 2010 at 3:34 pm
I always thought I hated beets until one day someone dared me to try them. They are actually pretty good, depending on how they are prepared. I’ll have to try this recipe. Thanks
July 22, 2010 at 7:42 pm
beets are awesome! glad to see a delicious beet recipe. and congrats on your weight loss! i did the South Beach method without exercising and lost over 30lbs in 3 months, which i’ve been maintaining for a few years thankfully, so i know it can be done! good luck!
July 22, 2010 at 11:35 pm
What a gorgeous looking salad! I’m not too huge a fan of beets either, but certain dishes with beets in them do hit the spot. I made a beet salad that required for them to be left raw, and yuck! It was pretty nasty. But your salad looks awesome, and the colors really make it extra appealing.
July 23, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Wow, that looks really good. I’m also happy to have beets served to me, but I’m not super excited about making them…though I do get pretty excited when I see golden or striped (candy cane beets?) at the farmers market…now I will have something to do with them other than put them in a salad!
July 27, 2010 at 8:37 am
Great ideas here. Fantastic looking too!
July 28, 2010 at 7:57 pm
i’m not a huge fan of beets either, but your lovely salad has got me thinking i will change my mind!
July 29, 2010 at 4:34 am
Wow! I am always looking for new ways to cook beets. I have a liver disease and the Doctors like you to eat beets as they are an amazing natural detoxifier for the digestion. This recipe will go on my regular rotation! Thank you so much.
I should also mention that your blog has really influenced my purchase of meat and how I source out butchers and our local farm. Thank you for that also.
Congrats on the weight loss. It is hard work and a big accomplishment!
July 30, 2010 at 10:45 am
Clearly, I’m in the minority here, but I’ve known both sides: I love beets now as much as I hated them when I was a kid. They do have that dirty-like flavor, acquired like all other strange but great loves (wine, sushi, pickled herring….). My favorite salads call for them raw and really thinly sliced, but they can be a bear to handle, for sure. Thanks for the gorgeous recipe – and that’s the up-side. Anything made with beets is highly photogenic!
August 2, 2010 at 11:06 am
I’m a convert, and a recent one at that. BUT…. and this is vital…. I don’t like the dark red, ubiquitous beets. I find them far too earthy and rough for my taste, even roasted to a mellow, but in your face sweetness. I do, however, love the gold, white and candy-striped versions of beets. All beet flavor with none of the punch. And best of all, I am crazy about the greens. A warm summer dish of greens, Chiogga beets and grilled shrimp crossed our table last summer and left us sighing in delight.
August 6, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I didn’t use to care for beets, but now that we’re growing our own and roasting them I love them. Fie, poor vegetable-cooking methods of my youth! How many delicious vegetable experiences I missed thanks to you!
August 8, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Wow, I’m surprised at all the beet haters out there. I’m firmly on the side of beet love. And this salad looks amazing.
August 15, 2010 at 10:58 am
still not convinced……but i always give em a try hoping against all hope that maybe one day I’ll fall in love:-)
August 15, 2010 at 6:28 pm
ooh girl, i don’t like beets either, but add some ginger and we’re all good! I recently made a really good beet salad with honey and now i need to remember what all I added to it!
August 16, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Pretty dish! I’ve eaten a lot of beets, but never with shrimp. I bet the golden ones would be even better with shrimp, too.
Incidentally, if you can ever find it, the herb lovage is absolutely PERFECT with beets. Something about the two creates quite the happy couple…
August 20, 2010 at 7:38 am
I am one of those “beet lovers” and it looks like you have done them proud. Bravo! Gorgeous beets. ;)
August 27, 2010 at 5:00 pm
I adore beets and LOVE ginger… so I’m so happy that you posted this recipe. In fact, we just got some beets from our CSA, so this might be made this weekend. :-)
If you want another beet recipe to try… I highly suggest this:
http://www.athoughtforfood.net/2010/07/recipe-grated-raw-beet-salad.html
August 29, 2010 at 1:11 pm
So do you like beets now?
September 2, 2010 at 7:50 am
I am on the “not a lover of beets” side of the table, but your pics of them sure are pretty!
Just checking in on you since it has been a bit. Hope you are doing well :)
September 3, 2010 at 11:20 am
Good for you! I agree, people do seem to have an aversion towards beets, though I can’t figure out why. I think it’s just a rather unique vegetable to work with. Whenever I see them on a menu, I tend to go for them, but I’ve only cooked with them once! Salad looks great though – something I would definitely order at a restaurant =)
September 3, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I’ve always been on the fence when it comes to beets, but when they’re cooked well, there’s no denying their deliciousness.
October 3, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Just found your blog and so happy I did! WOW! This sounds divine… and your photography, wow!
Can’t wait to keep browsing!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
December 2, 2010 at 5:56 am
Congratulations on the weight loss and I’m glad it prompted you to have this beet recipe. It sure looks delicious even if the first beet photos look hideous to me. :) I love the serene photos of your September post by the way. Especially the bench. :)
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