BEETS ME?

Get it?  Beets me?

It's been a while since I posted.  I think I lost the 3 readers I had worked so hard to build.  However, I've been busy with my normal day job.  In case you were curious, I work in the world of creative and styling.  So, when photographing my food, I can't help myself but to style the ingredients.  It's a sickness really.

Today, I present a yummy sandwich I made, which included pickled beets.

Honestly, I have never been a fan of beets.  They remind me of dirt.  I went on a trip to Mexico and on a tour, we were served a beet dessert.  To me, it tasted like ice cream and dirt.  So, when I found this recipe, I was a bit skeptical; however, I wanted to give these little guys another shot.

I got this receipt from the wonderful people at Bon Appetit.

The official title of this recipe is Roasted Eggplant and Pickled Beet sandwiches.

The ingredients are simple and can be found at your local market.  I gathered all these elements at Whole Foods.

You will need eggplants, beets, a combination of herbs like mint, parsley, and dill, Sherry vinegar, mayonnaise, garlic, pepper, salt, paprika, olive oil, scallions, olives, capers, and feta.  For your bread, they recommend focaccia, but it's completely up to you on what you want to use as your foundation of your sandwich.

I started by preparing my beets.  I have never pickled beets before, and the people at Bon Appetit did not provide such instruction in their recipe.  So, I turned to the internet for some assistance from Mr. Alton Brown.  According to Mr. Brown, I needed to remove the skin from the roasted beets and slice thinly.  Once sliced, I place them into a jar.  Then in a small pot, I  brought a combination of tarragon wine vinegar, salt, sugar and water to a boil.   Once boiling, I poured the mixture over my beets and place in the fridge for 3-7 days.

Once the beets were pickled, I was able to assemble my salad for the sandwich.  Note:  This was 3-7 days later.  Try to plan ahead if you want to make this sandwich.  The beet salad included my chopped scallions, olives, capers, and herb mixture of flat-leaf parsley, dill, and mint.  If you want a more rustic looking sandwich try tearing your herbs instead of chopping.    Mix these components into a small bowl with the chopped beets and oil.  Set aside.

As for the eggplants, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.  Slice the eggplant, rub both sides with oil, and place the pieces on a baking sheet.  Season slices with paprika, salt, and pepper.  Roast these babies until they are golden and tender.

While your eggplants are roasting, prepare you bread.   Slice into your focaccia and remove some of the bulk.  Too much bread can kill a tasty sandwich.  To be honest, I got that little tip from Top Chef on BravoTV.  Chefs have been in the bottom three for severing too much bread in their sandwiches.  Once your proportions are correct, you can toast them a little to make them crispy.

I am a huge fan of mayonnaise and was very happy that the sandwich involved a garlic mayo.  So, if you're not a mayonnaise fan, then you can skip this step.  It is a simple process of whisking the mayonnaise with some garlic and sherry vinegar.  Simple but delicious.

It's time to build your sandwich!

Start by spreading the garlic mayo on the bottom layer of the bread. Add the warm roasted eggplants, followed by the feta crumbles.  Finish the entire sandwich with the beet salad and add the top layer of focaccia with another generous amount of the mayonnaise spread all over it.  What can I say?  I like mayonnaise.  Press down on your sandwich to get all the juices mixed together and take a big bite.

It's tasty, right?

No longer will I associate beets with dirt and ice cream.

Till next time.