What is the best way to cook beetroot?

Answer 1

Actually -- roast it, like a potatoe. It is so delicious. Not many people have heard of it that way, but it's great. Boiling is so yesterday!

Roasted Beets and Sauteed Beet Greens

"This is a great way to use every part of the fresh beets you buy. You can get two delicious side dishes out of this one vegetable."

Original recipe yield: 4 servings.
Prep Time:10 Minutes
Cook Time:1 Hour
Ready In:1 Hour 10 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch beets with greens
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped onion (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C). Wash the beets thoroughly, leaving the skins on, and remove the greens.

Rinse greens, removing any large stems, and set aside. Place the beets in a small baking dish or roasting pan, and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. If you wish to peel the beets, it is easier to do so once they have been roasted.

Cover, and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a knife can slide easily through the largest beet.

When the roasted beets are almost done, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and onion, and cook for a minute. Tear the beet greens into 2 to 3 inch pieces, and add them to the skillet. Cook and stir until greens are wilted and tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the greens as is, and the roasted beets sliced with either red-wine vinegar, or butter and salt and pepper.

Answer 2

How to Cook Beetroot
If the beetroot still has leaves attached, cut these off about 5cm/2in from the beetroot. (Don't throw them away - cook them like spinach, they're delicious.) Scrub the beetroots gently, being careful not to pierce the skin, and leave the long 'tail' on, if still attached.

To roast, rub the beetroots with a little olive oil, wrap lightly in foil and put into a moderate to hot oven (about 200C/400F/Gas mark 6) for 1-11/2hours, or until tender right through when pierced with a knife. You could uncover them for the last half hour or so but you don't want them to get too crisp. This method works best with small beetroots - no bigger than large plums and if they're really small I like to eat them skins and all...but most people rub off the skins before eating.

To boil, put the un-cut beetroots into a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil, then put a lid on the pan and leave to simmer gently for 1-2 hours, again depending on the size of the beetroots. If you have a pressure-cooker you can reduce the time to 20-30 minutes - follow the directions given

Answer 3

Although you can buy ready-cooked beetroot in supermarkets, I’d always recommend cooking it at home. It’s very simple to cook and, to my mind, freshly-cooked beetroot has a better flavour and texture.
Choose firm, unwrinkled beetroots, as these will be the freshest. You’ll find that fresh beetroot is often sold in bunches, with its leaves still attached. These should be trimmed off, but make sure that you cut the leaves off about 2–3cm above the beetroot so as to minimise the dark red juices ‘bleeding’. Wash the beets gently, making sure that you don’t tear the skins, then place in a pan of warm water, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender – around 20–30 minutes. Alternatively, you can steam whole beetroot or bake them in the oven for 2–3 hours at 150°C/gas mark 2. The best way to tell if a beetroot is cooked is to rub it with your fingers; if the skin moves, then the beetroot is cooked.

watch tutorial video, the best way to cook beetroots, at this source:

Answer 4

Beetroot

Fresh beetroot has an appealing fresh flavour, accented when cooked from raw. Negative media coverage in the recent past hasn’t done it any favours – all too often beetroot has been associated with harsh-tasting vinegary pickles.

What to look for
Sweet, succulent and adaptable, beetroot adds colour and vibrant flavour to dishes. Small beetroot, often known as baby beets, have a particularly delicate flavour.

Choose firm bulbs with fresh, green leafy tops. The stalks are pleasantly astringent and cooked in the same way as spring greens or spinach.

If the skin is damaged, the colour bleeds out from the beetroot while it cooks – so do look for unblemished beets.

It’s best to steer clear of beetroot larger than 6cm in diameter - they may have a tough woody core.

Golden beetroot used to be popular in the nineteenth century, and is currently enjoying a revival in upmarket restaurants. It has a more subtle flavour than regular beets and doesn’t leave any stains on fingers and chopping boards.

Although they’re best used fresh, uncooked beetroot can keep for about 10 days in the fridge – trim the leafy tops to about 3cm above the bulb – this helps prolong its storage life.

In the kitchen
Cook beetroot whole, trimming the stalks to about 3cm above the bulb, if you haven’t already done so. Don’t bother peeling or trimming the tail – that way, its intense maroon colour won’t be lost.

Baking is the best way to develop its true flavour, and is especially suited to larger bulbs. Wrap each bulb in aluminium foil and roast at 180C/gas 4 for about an hour, until they’re tender when pierced with a knife. When they’re ready, the skin should easily peel away.

Beetroot can also be boiled - the cooking time depends on their size. Baby beetroot, which first appear in our markets in early June, are especially good treated this way.

Top tips
Its sweet flavour and vibrant colour makes a natural match with tart ingredients such as oranges, apples and peppery horseradish.

Cloaked in vinaigrette dressing, diced, cooked beetroot makes a colourful salad. Try adding crunch by tossing in toasted, chopped walnuts and fresh herbs such as chives, mint and flat-leafed parsley.

Ring the changes by combining cooked beetroot puree with buttery mashed potatoes.

A popular ingredient in East European cookery, beetroot is the base for bortsch – a classic Russian soup.

For a snappy hot vegetable accompaniment, fry diced cooked beetroot in butter, sharpen with red wine vinegar, and sweeten with sugar. A good grind of black pepper sets it off a treat. Try serving it with roast pork and rich game dishes.

You might want to wear protective gloves when handling cooked maroon beetroot, as the colour does stain.

Did you know
Raw beetroot juice makes a great pick-me-up, and combines well with apple and carrot juice

Answer 5

Best way to cook beetroot is in a pressure cooker and it has more flavour
Put in pressure cooker with water, takes 10 to 15 mins to cook.

Answer 6

This depends on the way you want to use the root.

Source:

Beetroot can be cooked and then eaten warm with butter (after having been peeled) as a delicacy; cooked and pickled and then eaten cold as a condiment; or peeled raw and shredded and then eaten as a salad. The leaves and stems can be steamed briefly as a vegetable, although this is preferably done with young plants. These and older leaves and stems can be sliced and stir-fried and have a flavour resembling taro leaves. The stems can also be cooked with another foodstuff (eg black beans) for an increased nutritional value.

Answer 7

I love baby beetroot (well at least as small as you can get it). Wash and trim, coat in olive oil, roast for 35 mins at 180 degrees ten mins before cooking finishes coat liberaly with balsamic vinegar
Fab
Serve with either polenta, a nice crisp green salad (or both) and enjoy with a nice big red wine

Answer 8

I prefer roasting to caramelize the sugar. It's also easy. You can find instructions here:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/CookingSchool/c_CookingClasses/BeetsBasics.htm

It also teaches you how to wash and prepare beetroot, as well as other cooking methods.

Answer 9

Don't cook beetroot at all. It's supposed to be eaten raw.

Answer 10

Bring it to a boil from cold water, cook, sweat down a mirepoix and puree ingredients for a killer nutritious soup