My mother-in-law is staying in a little cottage on Saratoga Lake. She’s here for five weeks and today we are going on a boat ride with her and some friends. The friends are providing the ride and we’re going to make dinner for them at the cottage after the boat ride.
The menu is simple. Pork tenderloin, fingerling potatoes tossed with garlic scape pesto, wedge salad with bacon and blue cheese dressing and pickled beets.
I picked up some beautiful chioggia beets at the farmer’s market from one of my favorite local farms – Denison Farm.
I’m a sucker for just about anything that’s pickled – cucumbers, green beans, boiled eggs and my favorite – BEETS!
First things first, you’ll need to cook your beets. Trim the beet tops, peel and cut off the roots. Put the whole beets in a pan that will hold them all. Fill about a third of the way up with water and simmer over medium heat until the beets are tender. This should take about 30 minutes. You can test by pricking with a fork or sharp knife to make sure the beets are tender. Allow to cool.
Slice the beets about 1/4″ thick. Slice the onions and the jalapenos very thin.
Layer the beets, onions and jalapeno in a bowl.
While the beets are cooling, combine the apple cider vinegar, salt, sugars, pickling spice and mustard seed. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2-3 minutes.
Warning: the vinegar is pretty potent. If you’re not careful, you’ll pickle your nose hairs!
Refrigerate overnight. Voila!
You can add more onions if you like or more jalapeno if you want more heat.
If you haven’t had pickled beets since you were a kid, I suggest you give them another chance. You might just be surprised.
- 4 medium beets
- ½ small sweet onion
- a small jalapeno pepper
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1½ teaspoon pickling spice
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- Trim the beet tops, peel and cut off the roots. Put the whole beets in a pan that will hold them all. Fill about a third of the way up with water and simmer over medium heat until the beets are tender. This should take about 30 minutes. You can test by pricking with a fork or sharp knife to make sure the beets are tender. Allow to cool.
- Slice the beets about ¼" thick. Slice the onions and the jalapenos very thin.
- While the beets are cooling, combine the apple cider vinegar, salt, sugars, pickling spice and mustard seed. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2-3 minutes.
- Refrigerate overnight.
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