Beautiful Balsamic Beets

I picked up my first CSA box this Thursday and guess what it had in it....

You got it!  Beets!

The thing is, I've never cooked beets before.  Does that surprise you, seeing I am a novice disaster of a cook? Beets seem to me a little on the exotic side, a little daring and adventurous.  And there they were, staring up at me from the CSA box... challenge on, mother-grabbers!

Don't get me wrong...being a true blue Aussie, I've eaten them.  On my hamburgers, that is... and the beets I'm talking about are the tinned, pickled ones that every Australian has grown up on... but there has never been a fresh beet in my house, as a child OR as an adult, until NOW!



That's a lot of years without a real beet around.

And my hands have never looked like this before, due to slicing up the beet.


My son took that picture of my hands, by the way.


Yep, that son. He's around when I'm taking all these photos, for the most part.

But before I go any further, speaking of beets, have you seen this beat?  Bev!! You have to scroll down to her video, but isn't she hilarious??!!  I found her last night looking for beet recipes, and her blog cracks me up!  Yet another food blogger I've fallen in love with, but with a bang, because Bev is funny, and anyone who can bring an unexpected smile, or even better, an actual laugh, into the world is totally awesome by me. Check out how she ate caterpillars... too funny!  She does have a beautiful beet pasta recipe too, but I needed to stick to just plain old beets for my first crack at them.


My inspiration for these beets came from Feasting At Home. I didn't have pomegranate, so I skipped those, but had everything else, so whipped these up tonight for dinner.  LOVED THEM!

Beautiful Balsamic Beets
Ingredients
6 beets - peeled and sliced thinly
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cumin

For the glaze:
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of maple syrup

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2) Toss sliced beets with oil, balsamic and cumin
3) Cook for 30-40 minutes until tender and delicious.  I followed what Feasting at Home suggested, and checked my beets every 15 minutes and gave them a little stir each time. 

While beets are cooking, make the glaze
1) Heat the balsamic and maple syrup on medium to low heat for about 20 minutes until it is reduced to approximately 2 tablespoons.  

Enjoy. 

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