On Wednesday July 28 in the Chicago Tribune Good eating section there was an article by Bill Daley. In it he published a recipe for Beet and Ginger relish. It was taken from “Forgotten Skills of Cooking” by Darina Allen. I had some beets that I harvested on Wednesday but did not get to until today. I’m having a fish fry tonight so something bright and cold should make a nice contrast.

The ingredients are:

8 ounces onion, chopped – about 1 large
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs sugar
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb raw beets, peeled & grated
1 piece (1/2′ inch long) ginger root, peeled and grated
½ cup red wine
2 Tbs sherry vinegar

By the way tha’s red wine vinegar as I didn’t have any sherry vinegar.

Peel the beets, aren’t they pretty? They look like some exotic grained wood.
Grate the beets and the ginger. I used the machine but you could use a box grater. Just be sure to account for the juice splattering!
Combine onions and butter into a nonreactive saucepan; cook over medium low heat until very soft – about 10 minutes.
Stir in the sugar, salt and pepper.
Add the beets, ginger, red wine and vinegar.
Cook for 30 minutes over low heat.
In my case I cooled and put in the fridge. You could can it it.

I’ll be enjoying this tonight with a walleye fry, but it should be good with cold meats, or goat cheese salads.

Beet Relish

8/1/2010 UPDATE: – this was absolutely delicious and a big hit with our guests. The cool crunchy relish was a great counterpoint to the hot fried walleye.

Eat well!


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