Cooking beet roots and greens

[cathyeats]

I vote for pickling the beets. I made them as part of my weekend blogging frenzy, and they were fantastic! Here's the recipe and a photo.

3 pounds medium beets, greens removed (leave a half inch of stem)

2 teaspoon whole allspice

1 teaspoon whole cloves

2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

A few sprigs of fresh thyme

6 bay leaves

1 large onion, thinly sliced

Put the beets in a saucepan, cover with water and boil for about 25-30 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain, rinse in cold water, peel and cut into chunks.

Bring the remaining ingredients – except the onion – to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Layer the beets and onions into four pint (or two quart) jars, and pour the liquid over. Let cool before covering the jars. Refrigerate for two days before eating.

[cyalexa]

Several years ago I had caramelized beets at the restaurant at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena. I have been trying to find and/or reproduce the recipe ever since and every year as beets appear at the farmers' market I search again. This year for the first time I have found 2 hints as to preparation; one said heavily seared on a plancha, one said roasted then smashed and seared. My previous attempts involved roasting and while good, were not quite right. I'm going to try again using the newly found hints but if anyone has additional input I would be appreciative.

[Smithy]

The dish is a new idea to me, but I wonder whether following the general procedure for smashed potatoes / crash potatoes (what an excellent, simple dish!) would do the trick? Roast, then squash individually (with a potato masher, bottle, whatever) to relatively flat; drizzle with butter, oil, whatever (balsamic vinegar on the beets?) then a few minutes under the broiler. Does that sound like it might work?

[cyalexa]

The dish is a new idea to me, but I wonder whether following the general procedure for smashed potatoes / crash potatoes (what an excellent, simple dish!) would do the trick? Roast, then squash individually (with a potato masher, bottle, whatever) to relatively flat; drizzle with butter, oil, whatever (balsamic vinegar on the beets?) then a few minutes under the broiler. Does that sound like it might work?

That's kind of what I had in mind although I am vacillating on whether the caramelizing should be done on cast iron, in the hot oven or under the broiler. In the dish I am trying to reproduce the caramelization almost a char,