Personally, I love beets. But I never ate them until I was in my 40’s. My mother has a pathologic dislike of all root vegetables. (She also despises the anise family, but that’s a story for another day). Potatoes were for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Turnips, beets, sweet potatoes, radishes, they did not exist in my world.

The first time I really ate beets were the pickled, canned ones on a salad bar. So, a humble beginning… But then I discovered that you could roast them. Wow! And you can eat the greens.  I’ve been eating them ever since.

Many years ago, beets took the bum rap. When I was a juicer, they had the reputation for being empty calories that offered nothing but sugar and a funky color.

But this past summer, the New York Times published the list of the 11 best things you’re not eating.  And beets were number 1. But to be fair, we’ve known for a while that they’re absolutely packed with antioxidants. Anything that dark in color has to be good for you, right? And they have fiber.

Roasted Beet Salad

Serves 4.

This has arugula in it. In honor of Obama. But you can use almost any green, such as watercress, beet greens, baby spinach, baby romaine…

1 lb baby beets, mixed red and gold

2 tbsp olive oil

1 bag arugula, well washed

3-4 oz goat cheese, such as montrachet, crumbled

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 °. Scrub beets and trim the greens to about one inch long (leaving the greens attached keeps the beets from “bleeding” in the pan). Place the beets in a covered roasting pan and pour in 2 tbsp olive oil. Roll the beets around in the oil until well coated. Put the cover on and place beets in oven. For baby beets, roast for about 30 minutes. For larger beets, add from 15-30 minutes, depending on how large they are. They are done when a fork slides in easily. Cool them until they can be handled. You can take the skins off or not. I personally like the skins, but for some people the taste is too strong. Slice them, leaving off the root and the stems.

Arrange washed arugula on 4 salad plates. Array the beet slices on the arugula and then cover with crumbles of goat cheese. Drizzle a vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar and olive oil (I like the flavored balsamics, particularly pear and cherry, for this salad). Salt and pepper to taste.