I decided to tackle the giant beet in my veg box today. I do like beets, but I recognised that describing them as “earthy” isn’t always a compliment to beets. For some people, you’re really just eating splendid pink dirt. This pasta dish is a play on a recipe by Anna Jones and its virtue is it really doesn’t taste like beets.
For the amount of grated beets in it, I’m surprised how little beet flavour there is. As in, pretty much none. What you have is all the glorious colour. And you can reduce the beets and still get this awesome colour and not be eating weirdly dry warm pasta. That being said, you need to aggressively flavour this with other things. Jones suggests feta. I used sautéed lemony courgette/zucchini since I had a couple lovely ones in my veg box, and a pile of fresh herbs from my pandemic garden. I had a couple of bites and then decided a dollop of creamy whatever would be nice and it really was (take your pick: non-dairy sour cream or yogurt, dairy yogurt, sour cream, creme fraiche). In any case, if you have a giant beet and want a bowl of pretty, here is what you do.
Grate your beet. I had a giant beet, so I grated about 1/2 of it which made enough for 2. Add the grated beet, pasta (I used spaghetti), garlic, a squeeze of tomato paste, a bunch of fresh thyme; salt, splash of olive oil and enough water to cover the pasta by maybe 1/2 inch and boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the pasta has cooked and the water has been absorbed. Stir regularly to prevent the pasta from catching on the bottom of the pan.
While the pasta is cooking sauté your courgette/zucchini in a pan with some olive oil and lemon pepper and garlic. When pasta is done, dump into bowls, add some fresh herbs (I added fresh chives and oregano because that is what I’m growing) and your courgette/zucchini. If you wanna guild the lily (and why not) add a dollop of whatever non-dairy or dairy creamy stuff you like.
adventures with my veg box 