Caramelized Beets!

Ok, I admit it.....I have never been a beet lover.  Alot of things that I didn't like to eat as a child, I have either grown to love or acquired a taste for.  Some things, like onions and garlic I really like alot.  But alas....not beets.

I have very few things I can eat with out having a food reaction to it.  You guessed it.  Beets is one I don't have a reaction to.  Sigh.  So, since I have such a limited diet I was determined to find a way that I would like to eat them.  So here it is.  Caramelized Beets. I not only can tolerate them this way.  I like them alot and crave them this way.  So here it is......

First, you will need some beets.  When they are prepared this way they shrink up alot.  So make extra.  If there are any extra the next day, believe it or not, they are good eaten cold.  But that doesn't usually happen.  So I make even more.  :)

I like garlic so I use a lot in this recipe.  Usually two cloves if it is elephant garlic and four if it is other types.  Peel the skin off it and chop it up finely into little chunks.

Put it on a small plate and salt it. Set it to the side till later. 

Take your beets and wash them well.  They need to be washed well because in this recipe we don't  peel them.  Cut off the bottom long root and tops.

If I am using the beets from my garden, I save the tops to eat later.

Cut the beets up into thin fry like strips.  Almost julienne style but shorter.  

Put olive oil in the bottom of a pan and put in your beets.  I put the stove top on medium but usually have to turn it down as they are cooking down.  Stir them frequently till they have shrunk up and are blistered on the outside.  Do not burn them.  For me it is about 20 minutes.  It depends how much you are making as to how long to cook them.

Once you know the beets are caramelized push all the beets to the sides of the pan making an open area or well and put the garlic there.

Stir it around for a very short time till cooked.

Then just stir it all in together and put it into a bowl. 

I made this batch with the first three beets from my garden of the year.  The rest were not ready yet.  It only made a small batch and so I have proportionality more garlic this time than beet!  It was still yum!

Since the beets are  not seasoned every time you get a bit of salty garlic in with a mouthful you get a flavor explosion.  Kind of like bacon bits on a salad.   (even though I can't have bacon bits!  :)   )

Hope all is going well in your gardening adventures this year.

Happy farming,
susan