A few weeks ago we went to New Orleans, and one of the restaurants inspired this dish of orange beets.

Compere Lapin served us a beautiful beet salad made with pistachios and kale pesto. When I purchased the beets to attempt to make this, the beet greens were so fresh I couldn’t discard them. Thus, beet greens pesto. If you can’t find beets with healthy beet greens attached go ahead and use kale or serve with this homemade basil pest0 or this seven herb garden pesto.

Beets are no stranger to Spinach Tiger. I have over 25 beet recipes and the most popular one has always been my red beet smoothie.

There are months that beets go off my radar, but that shouldn’t happen because the health benefits are just too powerful. 

Beets contain betaine, a substance that relaxes the mind and is used in other forms to treat depression. It also contains tryptophan which is also found in chocolate and contributes to a sense of well being, promotes the health of internal organs and a growing body of evidence shows that betaine is an important nutrient for the prevention of chronic disease. Beet Greens are also extremely healthy, high in iron, Vitamin K, magnesium and much more.

I’ve sauteéd beet greens in this recipe but this is the first time I’ve used them raw.

Ingredients

• Red Beets (feel free to use beets of other colors)
• Olive Oil
• Basil
• Garlic
• Orange
• Lemon
• Pistachio Nuts

Roasted Orange Beets with Beets Greens Pesto is the Foodie Salad for Health Nuts

I roasted the beets after dousing with a little olive oil and a lot of freshly squeezed orange. The beets greens were mixed with some olive oil, a little basil, garlic, orange and pistachio nuts. I had my doubts that this would work, but when you take a bite of the beet with the beet greens pesto, lemon it comes together well.

This is a simple dish, but it has complex flavors and layered textures. You could add in some goat cheese and make this a meal all by itself or serve it with a more subdued fish dish.

More Beet Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• Ginger Roasted Salmon with Orange Roasted Beets
• Golden Beets Carpacio
• Red Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese
• Red Beet & Bacon Goat Cheese Flatbread
• Raw Red Beet Pesto
• Red Beet Smoothie
• Beet Greens and Candy Striped Beet Salad
• Red and Golden Beet Crostini with Goat Cheese
• Roasted Golden Beets

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Roasted Orange Beets with Beet Greens

Orange Beets salad with a pesto of beet greens, pistachios and lemon for a wonderful side dish.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound red beets with beet greens attached
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• juice and zest of one orange
• squeeze of half lemon
• 1/4 cup pistachio nuts roasted salted
• 1 clove garlic
• few leaves of basil optional
• sea salt
• black pepper

Instructions

• Trim off beet greens. Wash well.
• Using a pairing knife or potato peeler, peel skin from beets and cut into quarters or large bite sized pieces.
• Douse with a tablespoon of olive oil and juice of half of the orange with zest.
• Wrap in foil and roast in oven at 350 degrees for 35-50 minutes or until tender. Check at 15 minutes and turn.
• Remove and douse with remaining orange and zest of that orange while still warm.

Beet Pesto

• Mix in small food processor or blender, beet greens remains olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and two tablespoons pistachio nuts. Blend until smooth. Taste to season with salt and pepper. Add more olive oil if needed.
• Bring beets to room temperature. Drizzle with more olive oil if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Top with beets pesto and remaining pistachios.

The post Roasted Orange Beets with Beet Greens Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

If I knew it was so easy to make ravioli with won ton wrappers, I would have done this ages ago. Easy, heart shaped, goat cheese and beet ravioli are just the kind of fun Valentine’s Day food I like to make. Eating just a few can feel so rich and decadent, I might forgo that box of candy especially when drizzled with a bit of truffle honey.

This month’s theme for the Creative Cooking Crew is dumplings.  I could think past Chinese dumplings, which I love, but I have little experience with Asian cooking and I’m keeping a tight pantry lately, in trying to simplify my life. I didn’t want to have a long list of ingredients I might only use once. but what was to stop me from making my own version of pot stickers skipping right past Asian flavors and grabbing onto something I’m very familiar with.  Beets and goat cheese. To remain true to myself, I created something easy and approachable with a minimum of ingredients, yet fun, delicious and innovative.

The red beet  and goat cheese mixture is beautiful and when stuffed inside a wonton wrapper, the bright pink color shows through. I pan fried the ravioli with diced red beets to turn the dough a beautiful beet red color.  I glistened the ravioli with a bit of truffle honey, but you could also rest them in some butter and shallots or use plain honey.

I made a few round shaped pot sticker-type dumplings, by pan frying, steaming.

I also made a version closer to a dumpling for soup accompanied by the beet greens.  Saute Beet greens with olive oil and garlic.

I knew in my heart I wanted a red beet goat cheese filling.   I combined goat cheese with cream cheese and pureed a fresh raw red beet. I did this with a  Vitamix that will crush the raw beets as I did with red beet pesto. However, you can roast or boil the beet, if you are using a food processor. I added a touch of sweetness by way of a peach habanero jelly. I liked the heat and sweet, but you could opt for something else like honey or a different jam or go savory with salt and pepper.

Whichever way you choose to use won ton wrappers, know that they are versatile and make a very good ravioli in a pinch. It’s easy to cut them into the heart shapes (for Valentine’s fun), or pinch them into a round dumpling. The beet and goat cheese filling is tasty, colorful and a nice surprise.

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Make Beet & Goat Cheese Ravioli Hearts with Won Ton Wrappers

Won Ton Heart Shaped Ravioli or dumplings made with beets and goat cheese.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 red beets
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 8 ounces goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon flavored jelly or honey I used peach habanero
• 16 wonton wrappers
• 1- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter

Instructions

• Peel beets. Roast one beet to be used for mixture.
• Dice one beet to be used to stir fry with ravioli. (Optional)
• Mix together cream cheese, goat cheese with jelly or honey.
• Roast red beets for 40 minutes at 375 until softened. Dice red beets. Place 1/2 cup or more of diced cooked red beets into food processor with cheese mixture, and mix until completely iincorporated.
• Wet the edges of two wrappers Put a teaspoon full of beet, goat cheese mixture on one. Top with wrapper. Cut out heart shape. Cover with damp cloth, as you continue to make ravioli. You can freeze them at this point.
• To cook, submerge in boiling water until they float to the top about 5 minutes.
• From this point, you can make eat cooked ravioli with butter. To get that red look, pan fry with remaining diced red beets with a tablespoon of butter. Once ravioli is cooked, toss in the pan with beets and cook a few more minutes tossing the beets over and under the ravioli. They will assume that deep beautiful color.
• Serve with the beets as a garnish.

Beet Goat Cheese Potstickers

• Place cheese mixture in center of won ton wrapper. Wet both sides of both wontons. Top with wonton, and pleat edges. Cover with damp cloth as you are making.
• Place very small amount of oil into a frying plan. Pan fry for 4 minutes without turning on medium heat. Add in hot broth or a little boiling water. Cover and steam to complete cooking for a few more minutes.

To make soup: Put ravioli or pot sticker into chicken broth. Add sauteed beet greens, finely chopped.

Notes

One option to fry the ravioli in is to use this red beet pesto.

The post Make Heart Shaped Beet & Goat Cheese Ravioli with Won Ton Wrappers appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Did you know that you can eat the beet greens that are attached to the beets? All too often, the beet greens are cut off and beets are purchased loose, but  look for beets with fresh looking greens because this is a power house combination of nutrition and good eats.

Beet greens are not hearty like kale but have more body than spinach. They cook very easily and quickly, but they don’t cook down.

I know you like beets because these roasted golden beets are always in my top five posts. By now, you  know I like beets because I’ve prepared them many times, such as in this  beet pasta and my personal favorite, this beet crostini.

I could think of lots of ways to prepare beets and beet greens together, but today, I bring you a simple salad, taking very little prep work.

The beets were roasted in foil in the oven long enough that the outside skins rubbed right off, saving on peeling. The greens were trimmed, boiled and both beets and greens were drizzled with olive oil and vinegar and just for fun I threw a few toasted walnuts and red pepper flakes into the mix. I used a homemade chive vinegar (recipe coming). It added just the right bite but this can be made with any white vinegar.  Apple cider, white balsamic and champagne vinegar are good choices. You can use any variety of beets, but I was lucky enough to find candy cane beets which are so pretty when cut.

If you love this recipe, please share by pinning and spread the good beet news.

So tell me, are you a beets fan and have you eaten beet greens before?

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Beet Greens and Beet Salad

A great duo of beets and beet greens, drizzled with olive oil and splashed with vinegar.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of candy stripe beets with greens
• 1 bunch of golden beets with greens you can use only one bunch of whatever beets you choose for this salad
• 1 clove garlic
• olive oil
• chive vinegar or any white vinegar
• sea salt
• black pepper
• handful toasted walnuts

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cut beets off. Wash thoroughly. Throw into boiling water. Cook for about a minute. Put into an ice bath to retain the green color.
• Wrap beets with tin foil. Roast for about 45 minutes or until tender. Using paper towels slip skins off. (Cool first just enough to handle).
• In a pan with a little olive oil, fry a garlic clove just until golden. Remove
• and add in beet greens. Saute for a few minutes in olive oil just to warm.
• Place into a bowl. Splash greens with a little chive (or any other white) vinegar.
• Slice beets into chunky quarters. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Place on beet greens with walnuts. Can be eaten warm, cold, or at room temperature.

The post Beet Greens and Candy Striped and Golden Beet Salad appeared first on Spinach Tiger.