A simple but satisfying dish: roasted beets with extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. If you have any special ingredients like kosher or sea salt or a peppery olive oil, this would be a good place to use them. Aged balsamic vinegar would be nice, too--- not the break the bank kind, but the $10 a bottle instead of $2 a bottle kind.
Ingredients
1½ pounds beets
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
⅛ tsp. salt or to taste
Instructions
To roast beets, start by trimming the greens, leaving 1" of stem on top.
Do not trim the root.
Make an aluminum foil roasting packet by folding aluminum foil over about three medium beets at a time.
Or place the beets in an ovenproof stockpot and place the lid on the stockpot.
Place the foil packet or the stockpot in a 375 degree oven.
Roast for one hour, then check the beets with a fork.
They are done when the fork goes easily into the middle of the beet.
After one hour, check the beets every 15 minutes until they are done. They will probably take between one and one and half hours, unless they are extremely large.
Cool beets.
To skin the beets, either protect your hands using gloves or a paper towel or cloth, or accept that you will need to scrub the pink off your hands afterward.
The skin will rub easily off the beets.
To serve beets: Slice each beet in half, then into ½ " thick rounds. If the beets are especially large, you may want to cut them into quarters.
Drizzle olive oil over the beets, then balsamic vinegar, then sprinkle with salt.
Recipe by Fit and Fed at http://fitandfed.net/2012/02/01/roasted-beets-with-balsamic-vinegar-and-olive-oil/