Maple Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese

Alternate title: Beets That Don’t Taste Like Dirt ? Who’s with me here?

Beets are one of those foods I’ve never really liked. Not that I haven’t tried — I’ve eaten homemade roasted beets, beets at fancy restaurants, beets in other things. The latter option (beets in other things) had been the closest I’d gotten to liking the things — and by “liking” let’s be honest, I really mean “not gagging while eating.” I could just never get over the dirt taste!

I know beets are supposedly super good for you, and I’ve definitely wished I liked them more, but it seemed like a lost cause. UNTIL that is, I discovered the beet dish at Salty Sow (ahem, one of my fave restaurants in Austin, see more over here). The first time I ordered it out of desperation — I needed some veggies in my life and that was one of the only things on the menu that I could have. But I’ve since ordered it AGAIN, just because I wanted to and not out of desperation!

What changed? Have I gone mad? Nope. (Well, ok maybe but it wasn’t the beets’ fault) My friends, the secret — the gateway drug to actually choking down beets — is to get white or yellow beets.

I mean, who even knew they came in the non-blood-red variety? But apparently they exist, and taste MUCH more mild and less dirt-like than the red kind. I’m sure they’re also less nutritious than the red ones, but hey. We’re trying here. Salty Sow serves all three kinds and while I always try to eat one or two slices of red ones, it’s obvious which ones are better.

So I was so excited when we (um “we” = Marc in this story but I’ll take credit for the idea) found yellow beets at Whole Foods a few weeks ago!

I will note that according to the Monash FODMAP App, 1/6 or more of a large beet (30g) has moderate amounts of FODMAPs. I was able to tolerate a serving for dinner and again for lunch the next day, but I wouldn’t advise eating this every day for a week straight! If you’re in doubt, start off slow (wait a day or two in between eating them and have a smaller serving) to test your tolerance. But ultimately we should be pushing the boundaries of what we can eat in order to get all the nutrients our bodies need! (If you’re curious I’ve written more on this topic before.)

The other secret is to spice them up a little bit, and I directly copied Salty Sow here by serving our beets with goat cheese, topping with pumpkin seeds, and adding a little maple syrup before I roasted them. I was so nervous while making these that they’d turn out terrible but they were actually pretty good!

PS: you’ll notice we served our beets with chicken thighs — I’ve yet to find a method for cooking thighs that I really like, but I loosely followed this recipe if anyone’s curious.

Enjoy!

?maria