Beet Chips and Beet Greens

When I was talking about my sort of failure with the beet cupcakes with a friend, she mentioned how someone she knew made beet chips and that they would probably be really pretty with the candy cane beets. Buuuut when I went to the farmer's market, there were no candy cane beets so I just bought regular beets. Beets come with a huge amount of greens. I have always wanted to cook them, so I took this as an opportunity.



The chips are really tasty. They sort of taste like sweet potato chips but a little sweeter. I think they'd go well with spices like nutmeg or clove or cinnamon, but I just used salt and pepper. The greens were very good! I'd heard beet greens were bitter, but these weren't at all. They don't taste like beet roots, but they are a little sweet. The bunch of beets I bought had 3 large beets and cost $2. A whole meal for $2! This was just the right amount of food for dinner for just me. You'd need more if you wanted to feed more people, or you can use this as a side dish.

Beet Chips
Ingredients
large beets, sliced thin (the thinner you slice, the crunchier they will be! also, I peeled them, I don't know if this is necessary or not)
oil, enough fill a small pan/skillet about 1/2 inch, I used canola
salt (coarse if possible) and pepper

Directions
1. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet. I put a small piece of beet in the oil and after it had sizzled for a minute, I decided the oil was hot enough.
2. Place beets in the oil. Cook 2-3 minutes per side, flipping once with tongs.
3. Remove an put on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
4. While still hot, sprinkle with salt and pepper.


Beet Greens
Ingredients
1-2 Tbsp oil (use some from the frying if you are doing that too!)
1 shallot, diced (I used a shallot because I didn't want to only cut part of an onion, but a small onion, or part of an onion would work fine though!)
beet greens and stems from one bunch of beets, sliced into 1" pieces, keeping stems and greens separate
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 Tbsp vermouth, sherry, or dry white wine
2-4 Tbsp water
salt and pepper

Directions
1. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet or small pan.
2. Add shallot and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic and stir another 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
3. Stir in beet stems and wine (or whatever you're using).
4. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Stir in beet greens and enough water to fully coat everything and have a little left in the bottom.
6. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until beet greens are soft.
7. Season with salt and pepper.