In your share this week: Beets/ Bok Choy/ Turnips, Potatoes, Broccoli/ Cabbage/ Peas, Summer Squash, Lettuce Mix, Kale/ Collards/ Chard, and Baby Onions
This week we’re introducing beets for the first time this season. We know this is a vegetable that people tend to either love or hate, so we’re hoping you’ll give them a chance this summer. One of the reasons people dislike beets is because they are over cooked. So, if you’d prefer to cook your beets, do so just until they are tender. But, did you know that you don’t have to cook beets in order to eat them? You can simply shred/shave beets and throw them into your salads, your coleslaw (see Joel’s Coleslaw guide below), or add them as a topping on your tacos (which Farmer Lance loves). The coleslaw recipe also will work well with your cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, baby onions, and other veggies you receive this week.
Joel’s Everyday Recipe Guide: Coleslaw
- Shred any mixture of raw cabbage, napa cabbage, bok choy, and carrots with accents of red onions, scallions, beets, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, radishes, or apples.
- Try adding nuts or dried fruits if you are going for a slaw with raw apple.
- Try adding soy sauce, garlic, and sesame seeds for a slaw with bok choy.
- For the Dressing: Use a 4 : 2 : 1 ratio of mayonnaise : vinegar (cider or wine) : mustard.
- Make sure to season with salt and pepper to taste.
- You can also add a teaspoon or two of sugar or honey to balance out the acid of the vinegar, but that is another ingredient that can be added according to preference.
If you’d prefer to cook your beets (remember, just until they are tender), you can try out this Spring Borscht Polish Beet Soup (recipe from Seasonal Eating), which uses the beet greens as well! You can cook and eat the greens. You can also roast your beets and put them in your salad, like in the Roased Beets with Orange & Thyme Recipe (from the NY Times). Or use them to make a tasty pasta sauce: Pasta with Roasted Beet Sauce (Recipe from Fullbelly Farm).
We know there are lots of additional ways to eat beets, let us know how you like to prepare them, leave a comment below!
