erth beets

recipe from daniel marks, interpreted by corey lyons

i first had this when i did a little mini-tour with erth (daniel marks) in february 2005. before this, i probably would have happily lived my whole life never eating beets or kale. in fact, when dan offered the food to me, i was only being a polite house guest when i said yes to, "do you like beets and kale?" well, the fact that you're reading this recipe should be evidence that dan changed my whole dietary world, because this shit is AMAZING. plus, it would be from daniel marks if it wasn't supremely healthy, and i recall dan telling me something along the lines of this food has everything your body needs to synthesize its own proteins for the day. well, something like that.

anyway, dan never actually gave me the recipe, but i think i pretty much got it. i usually make a lot and live off it for a while. as with any recipe i put up, i don't really list the quantity of ingredients because it all depends on how much you're making, and i hate reading recipes that are supposed to serve eight people when i'm just cooking for me and my girlfriend. use your best judgement

ingredients:

4-6 large beets *

bunch of kale

cooked brown rice or short grain rice (see dan's recipe for 'minimal brown rice'

organic butter

spicy sesame seed oil **

soy sauce

* when you cut the stems off of the beets, be sure leave about an inch on.

** if you don't have spicy sesame seed oil, you can get the same taste with regular sesame seed oil and schezwan seasoning

cooking the beets

there are a few different ways of cooking beets, but this is the best one for locking in the flavor. preheat yr oven to 350 and wrap the beets aluminum foil, individually. i like to put in a couple drops of the sesame seed oil for a little added flavor. cook them in the oven for about an hour. when they're done, you should easily be able to poke through them with a fork, and the skin will slide right off with little effort. cut 'em up into bite sized cubes.

also, since brown rice takes a while, it might be good to get it going while you're cooking the beets.

added butter to a preheated pan, and when i melts add the kale and some salt (i use a TON of salt in this recipe, but as always use it for your own tasting needs). when the kale starts to turn soft add the beets. also note that the kale will 'shrink' while you cook it, so sometimes i'll put in what looks like twice as much as i will need. cook with the beets for a few minutes, not too long since the beets are already cooked, then throw in the brown rice. go ahead and add a lot of the spicy sesame seed oil and a little bit of soy sauce. this is where the magic happens, as the beets will make everything turn BRIGHT PINK!!! so cook that shit for a minute until it's all hot, and totally pink. now it's ready to serve, but be sure to have the soy sauce, spicy sesame seed oil and salt on hand so people can adjust it to their tastes. personally, i love a TON of sesame and salt for this dish. so, other than the massive amounts of salt, this is a very taste and extremely healthy dish, and and the fact that it is bright pink adds some fun to the mix. enjoy!

:: special note :: you'll note that beets turn everything they touch pink. keep this in mind when you go to the bathroom the next day, thus saving yourself some unnecessary worry. might be good to tell other people that eat this the same. then again, there's a good deal of entertainment value in letting them figure it out for themselves....