Beet Towers with Farmers Cheese and Oranges
2 medium beets, washed, greens removed
1 small orange (Cara-cara are my favorites)
~ 2-4 T. farmers cheese or good quality ricotta
Black PepperPreheat oven to 400. Wrap beets in a foil packet and roast for about 1 hour, or until beets are tender and can be easily pierced with a knife. Carefully open foil packets and allow to cool (this can be done up to a day in advance).
When beets are cool enough to handle, slip off skins and trim top of beet so that it is a flat surface. Place the beets on their sides and slice into 1/3 inch or so slices, keeping the slices in order.
Cut the bottom and top off the orange, then peel using a serrated knife to cut away the peel and all of the white pith. Cut the orange into thin slices — count the number of beet slices that you have, then cut that many orange slices, minus two.
Place the bottom slice of one beet on a plate or small cutting board. Take about 1-1.5 t. farmers cheese and spread it evenly over beet slice. Top with orange slice. Sprinkle the layer with a small amount of pepper. Place the next beet slice on top of the orange, and repeat layering process — beet, cheese. orange, pepper — until you’ve used the whole beet. Repeat to assemble second tower.
Makes 2 towers
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Ah, beets. My trusty standby — ready to be prepared and enjoyed in the same old ordinary way (roasted, plain), yet always willing to be a player in my latest experimental recipe. It’s hard not to appreciate a vegetable that is so bold, yet so flexible.
This latest beet creation, oddly enough, came out of the fact that I both 1) love ricotta cheese and 2) am extremely picky about it. I was at the Milk Pail Market the other day, a european style open-air grocery in Mountain View, CA that has a fantastic and diverse cheese selection, and I, as always, checked the cheeses to see if they had started carrying any other ricotta than the factory produced kind. Every time I go there, I check for good ricotta, and alas, every time I check, I am disappointed (though I regularly put in written and verbal requests for Bellwether Farmers ricotta). Anyhow, this check/disappointment cycle has been going on for nearly a year now (since I started shopping there), so I decided that instead of just sulking, I would see if there were any other options, namely a good farmers cheese or quark. Much to my delight, the Milk Pail does carry a hand-packed artisan farmers cheese, which is very similar to ricotta, except slightly drier.
Farmer’s cheese is very mild, with a slightly grainy texture. It’s great for spreading on breads, using in pastas, mixing with herbs — basically anywhere you would use ricotta, you can substitute farmer’s cheese. Both texturally and taste-wise, it goes extremely well with beets and other roasted vegetables. It is mild enough to allow the vegetable flavor to shine through, and at the same time, the contrast of soft roasted vegetable and textured grainy cheese is wonderful.
But back to the recipe — the most time consuming part of this recipe is actually roasting the beets; once that is done, the towers come together in a few short minutes. I served mine at room temperature, though they would also be delicious if you popped them in a medium oven for a few minutes (10 minutes at 325 or so) to warm everything. Also, roasting the beets can been done up to 2 days in advance, but do not assemble the towers until close to the time you are ready to served them, as the crimson beets will stain the cheese and oranges a fiery pink.
Anyhow, as you might have guessed from the blog title, beets are my favorite vegetable, and I’m always looking for new ways to prepare them. Do you have any ideas? Also, what’s your favorite vegetable, and how do you like to prepare it?
Comments
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 8:55 pm and is filed under Beets, Cheese, Delectable Dairy, Fantastic Fruits, Orange, Veritable Vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Maybe this is not very new or different, but my favorite way to eat beets is room-temperature small wedges or thin slices topped with crumbled goat cheese, toasted walnuts, kosher salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. I’ve never eaten them with oranges but that sounds marvelous too.
I love beetroot too, particularly as we’re getting into winter here; I just think they go so well with the heavy meals I crave - moreso than a green salad.
My favourite beetroot focused meal involves roasting a couple, setting them aside and then cooking enough puy lentils as I need (I’m awful with measurements, I really am), letting them cool a little after cooking and mixing with a little goat’s cheese, chopped up beetroot, thinly sliced red onion and continental parsley. I dress it all with red wine vinegar, olive oil, lots of cracked pepper and sea salt. It’s lovely. Good additions include fennel and baby rocket (I believe you’d know it as arugula).
I also like grating beetroot to add to a red vinegar slaw alongside red cabbage and onion. Naturally I bring out the red wine vinegar to dress it ;). I must say, red wine vinegar and beetroot is one of my favourite pairings. And the slaw goes wonderfully with homemade falafel and pita and a nice heaping spoonful of greek yoghurt.
Being Australian, I can’t resist making a hamburger with a few slices of beetroot in it. Organic, free range beef mince for the burger itself, a lovely sourdough bun to house the beetroot, a slice of cheddar cheese, cooked onion, lettuce and tomato and then a slug of tomato sauce over the whole thing. Great comfort food.
OMG, that looks good! Beets and carrots AND farmer’s cheese!
Susan - beets and goat cheese are one of my favorite combinations — usually instead of walnuts I’ll use toasted chopped pistachios — yum!
Katie - you are so creative! I am especially intrigued by adding beets to a hamburger — I would have never thought of that, but will definitely give it a try now that you described it. Also, I totally agree about the red wine vinegar/beet combination — raw (grated) or cooked (small dice), I think it’s good both ways.
valereee - not only was it tasty, but they’re really pretty on the plate as well!
Oh, I have two beets in my fridge from the farmshare that have this recipe written all over them.
Thanks!!
raw! i like them sliced super-thin - like with a mandolin or a veggie peeler - over a salad with some good cheese. some oil and balsamic. yum.
you’ve managed to make beets look like dessert.
finnyknits — thanks for commenting! I hope you enjoy it! this would be nice too if you used golden beets, or a mixture of red and golden, depending on what your farmshare provides
michelle - I really need to get myself a mandolin… speaking of dessert, I’m sure that once upon a time I saw a recipe for beet brownies!! I’ll have to look through my myriad cookbooks to see if I can find the recipe - thanks for reminding me!
I’m also a fan of the beet and goat cheese combination. In the summer, I steam Chioggia beets, slice them thin, and add them to salads. So good.
Food Is Love
This looks absolutely incredible. Also, I must add that I LOVE your site, and have been reading it since the get go…I’m Katy from sugarlaws’ sister…and we both always chat about how incredible your recipes/writes up are!! I currently live in england, and getting my hands on beets (beetroot) is pretty easy…so my little kitchen is in for a colorful evening in the neer future!! Also, my sister is getting married…im thinking this could be a really nice menu addition!! perhaps in salad form in that we are serving food family style…
Jen, i attempted to make an amaranth pilaf with beets and oranges…it turned out interesting.
Love the picture and love the recipe and love beets! Thanks,
Debs - I just got some chioggia beets this past weekend, and can’t wait to use them — I think I’m going to do them lightly steamed with chopped pistachios, mint, and red wine vinegar…
emily - Thanks for the compliment! And I love Katy’s site too! As for making this into a salad, the taste combination is a winner, but presentation plays a big part too — if you want to serve it family style, I would mound a big pile of ricotta or farmer’s cheese in the center of a plate, then arrange alternating beet and orange slices around it. If you mixed it all together it might all turn beet red…
maybelle’s mom - I have a container of amaranth sitting in my cabinet but haven’t been brave enough to make it yet — one cookbook I have (Mollie Katzen’s Enchanted Broccoli Forest??) has a whole section on cooking various grains, so I’m planning on following her directions… I ‘ll let you know if it works out. I’m glad Belle liked it though!
Deb - Thanks! I love them too!
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This looks great! My crop-share starts this week and I am hoping for some delicious beets. If I am lucky I will be making this beautiful stack this weekend.