There should really be a warning label on beets.

Yesterday I began the long task of putting the garden to bed for the season.  We had two nights of frost this past weekend, and it looks like we have a few week reprieve before it comes back to stay.  So this means I need to finish harvesting what I want to harvest and work on preparing the soil for a winter’s rest.  I decided to start with the beets, since there was only a handful left, and I decided that I was in the mood for beets for dinner.  I pulled about 10 or so remaining beets, and as long as I was standing there, decided to harvest a good sized bunch of chard leaves to blanch and freeze.

I took the beets in the house, washed them up, and then tossed them in the oven to roast so their skins would easily slip off for me.  If you’ve never prepared beets this way, it’s incredibly easy.  I cut the tops and tails off the beets and put them in a small baking dish.  Then I poured water to 1/2 inch into the pan and then covered it tightly with foil.  This dish went into a 400ºF oven for 1 hour.  I gave them a short while to cool before running them under cold water and rubbing the skins off- it takes no effort and no time.  I then tossed the beets into a saute pan with a touch of butter and black pepper, that’s how I like them best.

But there should be a warning label on beets.  Because I had myself a good-sized helping with my dinner last night.   They were delicious and I was savoring the last of that flavor until next summer.  There’s really no delicate way to put this, so let me just say, that when you eat a quantity of beets, and then go to the bathroom a short while later you will swear that you are dying, or that there’s something seriously wrong with you.  Apparently beet juice colors your pee… a rather remarkable red that resembles another bodily fluid that you hope to never see with your pee.  So let me just say, the next time you eat a quantity of beets, be prepared, and don’t be alarmed a short while later in the bathroom.

Anyway.

I also wanted to talk today about chard.  I’m still picking it from the first seeds I planted back on May 6, and harvested for the first time on June 20.  I had no idea this plant was ever-bearing.  I’ve been snipping leaves off on and again for months- and they show no signs of slowing!  I’ve gone out once before to snip leaves just for freezing, and decided yesterday was the day for another freezing session.  I picked the leaves, narrowly avoiding a big fat garden spider, and was cleaning and removing the stems when I thought I shouldn’t be wasteful, and find something to do with all these stems.  I flipped through my vegetarian cookbooks, because if someone was going to use these stems, which are often discarded, it would be a vegetarian.  I wasn’t disappointed when I found a recipe for Baked Chard Stems with Tomatoes, Garlic and Parmesan, in my Jack Bishop book, “A Year In A Vegetarian Kitchen”.

The only thing I was missing from the ingredient list was the canned tomatoes, but since I still have a few whole tomatoes lurking about, it seemed a shame to not use them- so I chopped up three red and yellow  tomatoes to measure about 14 ounces of tomato.  My other addition to this recipe was about a tablespoon or so of chopped scallion.  I had a little lurking about from another recipe, and decided to just throw it in with the parsley called for.  There were a few steps to this one, but it wasn’t anything overwhelming or difficult, just a tiny time consuming.  The stems were first trimmed, and then boiled for about 8 minutes.  While they were draining, I got the garlic and tomatoes sauteing in a different pan until I thought the sauce had the perfect consistency.  I didn’t take it quite as far as Jack suggests, which is almost dry.  I left a bit of tomato juice in the sauce.  I layered the chard, sauce and Parmesan cheese, and then popped it into the oven to bake for 25 minutes.  A five minute rest and I was scooping out some gorgeous looking chard stems.

I was definitely not disappointed.  Considering how few ingredients went into this dish, it was really packed with flavor.  It was nothing short of delicious!  The stems were so tender and had that earthiness, but none of the bitterness usually associated with chard.  The tomatoes and garlic brought a sweetness to the party, which was nicely capped off with the salty Parmesan cheese.  As I was eating it, I thought that a shot of fresh lemon juice at the table would have been the crowning acheivement to this dish, but since I am out of lemons, I didn’t get to give that a shot.  The recipe says it serves four as a side dish, but since it was a main dish for me, I ate about half of it and was fully satisfied.  I had it with my beets and a little something I tried with some of the chard leaves.  You’ll want to come back and check that out tomorrow- because as much as I already love chard, this took it to a whole new level for me. 🙂