Beet Pasta

John has a seriously growing obsession with beets. The only other beet recipe I've posted here is Chicken with Roasted Root Vegetables, but I feel like we eat them all the time. I was looking around at the Bon Appétit website the other day and as soon as I came across this recipe I knew it would be an instant favorite in my house. Plus, I used red beets and then we got to eat pink pasta. Score.

Farfalle with Beets and Spinach

Adapted from Bon Appétit 

The recipe calls for a few things that I either couldn't find or didn't have. First were the golden beets. Normally my local grocery has delicious golden beets with beautiful beet greens. But of course, the one time I really wanted golden beets with beautiful beet greens, they were out. I resorted to using red beets (which is why my pasta turned pink) but the greens weren't exactly beautiful. I substituted spinach and it was delicious! If you can find beets with nice looking greens, use those instead of the spinach that I used in the recipe.

⅓ cup pine nuts

2 large bunches of beets (golden or red, depending on what color you want your pasta), peeled and cut into 8 wedges

2 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz spinach

12 oz Farfalle pasta

⅓ cup Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil beets until tender, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, drain beets. Return the water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid, and keep pasta warm.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, toast the pine nuts over medium heat, tossing often, 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. In the same skillet, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over low heat. Cook the onions on low until lightly browned, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Add the spinach (or beet greens) in bunches and sauté until wilted, 5-7 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix the pasta, beets, greens, and Parmesan cheese. Add enough of the cooking liquid, about ¼ cup at a time until sufficiently moistened. Mix until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese and toasted pine nuts.

Enjoy!                 

Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables and Showdown Results!

Man, you guys are some serious cheese fiends. I heard 5 votes (one from Facebook) for cheese and zero for butter. And my vote, hands down, is definitely cheese. I love cheese. I might have some sort of weird affection for it. If there is cheese within a 10 foot radius of me, I will find it. And eat it. And it will be great. Yay cheese!

And on that note, I present you with an entirely cheese-free meal. If I had planned ahead I would have posted my favorite recipe for macaroni and cheese or cheese-stuffed pasta shells. Or some other cheese-tastic meal. But that would require a small amount of pre-planning. Which just doesn't happen that much around here. In honor of the cheese win however, I will post a totally cheesy recipe here soon. And by cheesy I mean it will be full of cheese. Not like the jokes I make all the time. Har har har.


Aaaanyway, last Saturday we helped some friends move, so by the time dinner rolled around we were starving and exhausted. This meal was perfect. Filling, quick, healthy, and really really good.

And everything except the onion and the chicken came from our share! I love it when a meal comes together like that. It makes me feel thrifty... or something.

Make this the next time you're recruited to haul boxes and furniture for friends. Or the next time you have beets on hand. You know, whenever.

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Root Vegetables
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts
3 beets
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 potato
4-5 carrots
1/2 cup beer
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350.

Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides.

Cut the onion into eights. Peel and chop the beets and carrots roughly into pieces. Mince the garlic.

Heat oil in a medium size dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once the pot is really really hot, add the chicken and sear for 1-2 minutes, without moving. Flip and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes, without moving. Remove to a plate and set aside. We're just trying to get some good color on the chicken, not cook it though. We'll do that later.

In the same pan, add the onion, beets, potatoes and carrots. Brown the vegetables in the pot for about 3 minutes, just to give them some color. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute to distribute the garlic. Add about 1/2-1 cup beer or chicken stock to the pan. Cook the liquid down for about 2 minutes, then return the chicken to the pan. Cover and bake for 15-20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with rice on the side. Enjoy!

P.S. Because there are beets in this, everything will be a funky purple/pink/reddish color. Never fear, your food is not turning into something scary.

P.S.S. For the veg-heads out there, this is a really good way to cook the vegetables with a lot of flavor. Just leave out the chicken... obviously... and don't use so much butter and oil in the beginning. Yum!