Clucker parts and Arugula, beets, goat cheese with walnuts salad


 
ChuckO said:
Fresh Beets or canned? Good looking salad and a nice cluck cook
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Fresh beets. I try to avoid cans (except Cento tomatoes). These were larger than baseballs from Winco. Two total. Cooked the beets on Sunday and cooled, peeled and sliced them.

The dressing was EVOO, balsamic and a splash of red wine vinegar. TJ’s bagged arugula and TJs goat cheese (plain). Chopped walnuts were Winco bulk section.
 
I am lucky, almost the whole family likes beets! How did you cook them Brett? Roast! Steam or simmer?
I’ve been roasting them almost every time anymore. I like them golf ball size when I can find them. 1/4 them toss with evoo salt and pepper toss them on the grill, most folks seem to like them.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Fresh beets. I try to avoid cans (except Cento tomatoes). These were larger than baseballs from Winco. Two total. Cooked the beets on Sunday and cooled, peeled and sliced them.

The dressing was EVOO, balsamic and a splash of red wine vinegar. TJ’s bagged arugula and TJs goat cheese (plain). Chopped walnuts were Winco bulk section.
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When you cooked the beets, do you cook them to temp, or just tenderness? That's a salad I'd like to make this Labor Day Weekend
 
Cook method was to rinse the outside of dirt, and then with a paring knife cut the tip and bottom off, place in a stock pot to cover with water. One was so large the pot only covered 7/8th of the large one. I add around 1/4 cup white vinegar (helps keep the color in the beets). Cover the pot and bring to a boil and then simmer.

Cook time was around 70 minutes. They’re cooked until a fork can penetrate with still some resistance.

Remove the beets from its water and then place in a work bowl and let cool on the counter. The carryover heat will finish the beets till fully tender.

Then, wearing gloves, I just use a little finger pressure and the skin comes right off.

I toss the skin, then quickly rinse the beets while still in the work bowl, drain, and then sliced the beets in the work bowl.

Beets can be very messy and stain everything so I minimize moving them by keeping them in the work bowl.

Once cut, I then spoon them to a storage container and fridge them.

I also roast them in the oven in winter time. Fully cleaned and skinned, rubbed with a little evoo, wrapped in foil and baked. This method takes longer.

I prefer the boil method. Sometimes I’ll keep the liquid and reduce it and make a borscht. Add back in sliced beets and some flavor and have a cold soup. Or you can turn it into a beef borscht for a hot soup.
 
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ChuckO said:
When you cooked the beets, do you cook them to temp, or just tenderness? That's a salad I'd like to make this Labor Day Weekend
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This was a trial run for Rosh Hashanah, if we need a salad. My current menu needs paring down. I think it’s too big.

The salad was great. Some hints: balsamic dressing, not glaze. And you only need a little balsamic vinegar. And the same for evoo, high quality and just a little bit.

The red wine vinegar plays well with balsamic. It’s a small vinegar boost to reduce the sweetness of balsamic.

Start with less of the dressing and you can add more if needed. I’d recco making the dressing on the side and letting people top their salad with the dressing. This way the salad stays firm and the arugula doesn’t get wilty, quickly.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
I am lucky, almost the whole family likes beets! How did you cook them Brett? Roast! Steam or simmer?
I’ve been roasting them almost every time anymore. I like them golf ball size when I can find them. 1/4 them toss with evoo salt and pepper toss them on the grill, most folks seem to like them.
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I also serve them like you but I also like a squeeze of fresh lemon with the evoo. The acid balances out the sweet a bit.

I posted the cook method above. I prefer the simmer method versus the roast method.

We love beets. They’re just kind of messy at times so I’ve tried to build a method to contain the juice and any staining.

The store I go to sells them in bunches with stems on or in bulk, random sized. I usually like the baseball sized ones. Less product loss when peeling and less work overall.
 
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