Friday, August 01, 2008

BEETS: The New Spinach

Is RAW better??? Is the raw movement just another fad? Well, in some cases there does seem to be some scientific evidence that raw IS better. Take beets, for example. I love beets. I love preparing them wearing a white long sleeve shirt and white linen pants. I love cleaning up my white tiled countertop. I love how easy it is to prepare roasted beets.

NOT.

And not only do I despise roasting them, it makes me not want to buy them...until now. I recently read a NY Times article about the "Top 11 Foods You're Not Eating", and lo and behold, beets make the cut. But not cooked beets. Raw beets. Yep. Apparently cooking them minimizes their goodness. Makes sense.

So I wondered, how the heck do you eat raw beets? Duh!!! Foodsnob!!! You grate them, make a shallot vinaigrette and let it macerate for a few minutes and presto, you're eating one of the top 11 foods as described in that article you've been obsessing over!

Try it. It's awesome, except, don't be scared when you...errr...use the restroom and think you're bleeding from...well, you get the gist. Oh, and the best part is, you can use large beets. They are just as good and are much easier to clean, lazy people.

Foodsnob's Raw Movement:

about 2 cups grated beets
1 T champagne vinegar
1 T extra virgin olive oil (it has to cost a LOT of money)
1 T fresh orange juice, or 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
minced shallot
zest of orange or lemon
freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together all ingredients except for beets. Pour vinaigrette over grated beets and let sit for at least 30 minutes. The longer it macerates the better. You can also add basil chiffonade and/or goat cheese right before serving just for the hell of it.

Wish you could have a fresh, tangy bite!
Foodsnob

PS I wrote this post last week, and in the meantime, this article came out a couple days ago in the NY TIMES. WTF? I swear I did not plan this...funny how they roast them...

4 comments:

Sam Riegel said...

You scooped the NY Times, foodsnob! Way to go.

opus2 said...

macerate... i love it when you talk like that.

Beets are scary. i'm not sure i've ever had beets in my life.

opus2 said...

i had my first taste of beets today!! i had to tell you. i had ABC juice: Apple, Beets, Carrot. Was good.

Anonymous said...

i made this last night and it was awesome! i've never really been a fan of beets so thanks for the tip!