Beet greens: stems and tops

[Shel_B]

If they arent nice enough to eat fresh you can try to make some vegetable ash with them.

What is vegetable ash and what do you do with it?

[Shel_B]

Rick Bayless has a simple/rustic "-greens" taco filling recipe in Mexican Kitchen that my wife and I like a lot ...

Thanks for that suggestion. Looks like something I'd like to try.

[rancho_gordo]

Aren't they almost identical to chard?

[FrogPrincesse]

Texture-wise, a bit like chard, but taste-wise they remind me of sorrel with a more earthy quality. Both are high in oxalic acid.

I've used beet greens in soup. There is a recipe by Batali that is quite nice. Onion, garlic, potatoes, red pepper flakes, bay leaf with a Pecorino Romano garnish. The soup is not terribly photogenic but it's very good.

Edited August 30, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Ttogull]

Aren't they almost identical to chard?

I would say chard tastes closer to spinach, and beet greens closer to kale or collards (with a bit of Beet taste as well). Earthier, like Frogprincesse says.

I don't like chard, but I love beet greens.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Ttogull (log)

[boudin noir]

Saute with some onions.When done mix in some sour cream and horseradish. Then a little sugar to taste.

[FauxPas]

When I grow my own, I thin them and use the young greens in salads. Older ones I use in things like minestrone soup or veggie lasagne. Sometimes I blanch and freeze them if I don't have an immediate use for them.

[Paul Bacino]

Gumbo Z

[lmarshal1]

I've been given a bag of beets.  The beets we love in a variety of ways, but I've been told the greens are good too.  Raw in salads? Small leaves only?  Stems?  Steamed like spinach?  How do YOU fix them? 

[HungryChris]

I wash them off, remove the bigger stems (these are good pickled). Put some olive oil in a covered sauce pan big enough to accommodate them raw, add some crushed garlic over medium high heat and add the still wet leaves. Cover them long enough for them to cook down, uncover and cook until tender. Take a little sample after every few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. They are quite good. The leftovers are also good on a hot day, served cold, with a bit of Italian dressing.

HC

Edited July 26, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Beet greens are a treat!  I usually do the same as @HungryChris described. Sometimes I blanch them first.  If there are a lot of bigger stems, I'll slice them on the diagonal and add them to the pan with the garlic so they can cook a bit before adding the leaves.

The best treat of all are the row thinnings, with tiny baby beets attached to fresh greens that can cook together in a pan with plenty of butter.  Oh my !

[scubadoo97]

I like to slice them up real thin, sauté them with a little onion and pop a fried egg on top for breakfast.  Good way to start your day 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Sautee them, hardly cut up:

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153452-dinner-2016-part-6/?do=findComment&comment=2063205

 

 

 

So good.

 

 

http://tribade.org/Food/CSO07082016.png

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Soup! I find that they taste a bit like sorrel. I like this recipe by Mario Batali.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I just love beet greens! They are my favorite in a spring mix for the baby ones.

 

The recipe for Chard Tart from pages 364-365" Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker copyright 1997 has been adapted by me several times to use beet tops of mature beets. 

 

I can't find it online, but it's much like this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, although I do not use a pastry crust, and I do not discard the stems of the beet greens, but rather saute them first until tender. They are, in fact, the very best part to me. 

[Beebs]

Yum! Beet greens!  

 

Interestingly, I think they taste a lot like one of my favourite Asian greens - Chinese red spinach /  yin choy / xian cai .  But with the advantage of being easier to clean than red spinach.

 

Sauteed with plenty of rough-chopped garlic, splash of water, cover the pan to steam a bit.  I like the thick stems too, but I cook those bits quite soft.

[shain]

That's what I usually do:

Cut out the stem (stack them and cut through all, it's OK to have some green attached). Dice the stem, add onion and garlic and saute in olive oil. Add cumin, paprika, turmeric. Chop the green part of the leaves and add it in. Cook until softened. Add pre-cooked chickpeas, black eyed peas or fava beans. Cook together for a while, make sure it doe not dry up. Add sumac, lemon and parsley before serving. I sometimes also add a touch of lemon zest.

I serve it over bulgur, sometimes rice. I often add fried or poached egg on top, a drizzle of lemony tahini sauce or yogurt. Some more sumac and cumin on top. A sliced tomato on the side.

 

I call it "Mangold be-lubia/hummus/ful" (lubia=cowpeas, humuus-chikpeas, ful=fava).

In Arabic it's called "سلق باللوبيا" (Salaq bi al-lubia)

 

I don't have a good picture, but here is one with cow peas, and another with fava beans and added chili pepper, served along a roasted eggplant.

Edited July 27, 2016 by shain
typo (log)

[dcarch]

There are many stores who will give you beet greens for free. Because people don't know how good the greens are and they don't want them.

How very nice for me!!!

 

dcarch

 

Smoked chicken

 

SV short ribs

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Edited July 28, 2016 by dcarch (log)

[cyalexa]

Sauteed in olive oil with garlic, finished with a orange juice, orange zest, capers, and raisins that have been plumped in boiling water. 

[pastrygirl]

My parents always had a big garden when I was growing up.  Beet greens were cooked simply (probably either boiled or saute'd) and we'd each have a small bowl of them on the side so they could be doused with red wine vinegar.

[Ttogull]

They are excellent raw.  Even the stems.  Cut it all up and top with a soft goat cheese. 

 

I too have found that people often give the greens away for free. Especially true for broccoli and cauliflower leaves. At the end of summer, I'm usually left with lots of beet roots I'll never eat because they came with the greens I do love to eat!  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I looked over al the various greens in the store tonight.  Nothing was as appealing as the beets.  I only wish I liked the roots half as much.*

 

*Although if cooked correctly the roots are not all that bad.  Even so, the leaves are better.

 

[EMichels]

Beet greens are one of my favorites. My typical preparation is a simple stir fry with a bit of salt. Delicious.

 

18 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I looked over al the various greens in the store tonight.  Nothing was as appealing as the beets.  I only wish I liked the roots half as much.*

 

*Although if cooked correctly the roots are not all that bad.  Even so, the leaves are better.

 

 

If you have a juicer, the root makes an excellent addition to raw juices of almost any kind. I almost don't want to make a juice without it.