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Beet Roesti with Rosemary

A New Way with Beets

from The Minimalist Cooks at Home
Mark Bittman
Mark Bittman has an easy to follow layout with simple yet sophisticated recipes. Included with each recipe are wine suggestions, make ahead lists, as well as tips to make minor changes to the original recipe to get a whole new dish. $40.00.

Work time: 30 minutes

Prep time: 30 minutes

Can be: prepared in advance

Makes: 4 servings

Although sweetness is not an unfamiliar sensation at the dinner table, no so-called savory food is quite like the beet, whose intensity is incomparable. This quality has typically led cooks to counter its sweetness with acidity or other sharp flavors, a natural inclination that has brought us beets with vinegar, beets with lemon, vinaigrette, ginger, and so on.

Showcasing the sweetness of beets is an attractive alternative, wonderfully exploited in this roesti, a dish, created about ten years ago by Michael Romano, the longstanding chef at Manhattan's Union Square Café. It's a thick beet pancake, cooked slowly on both sides until the beet sugars caramelize and a crunchy, sweet crust forms that, I swear, is reminiscent of crème brûlée. A touch of rosemary added to the mix does not diminish this sweetness at all, but simply adds another dimension.

Both concept and technique are unusual for beets, at least in my experience. Over the years, I've seen nothing like this in cookbooks, and everyone I've cooked the roesti for -- or even mentioned it to -- finds it surprising. The beets are peeled and grated raw; the grating disk of a food processor does this task quickly and easily, but a box grater works well also. They're then combined with flour, an essential ingredient; without it the pancake won't hold together.

There are some other fine points: In this dish, butter is really the fat of choice; it complements the beets perfectly. If you choose to substitute oil, use a neutral one, such as canola, rather than a strong-tasting olive oil. The roesti must be cooked in a nonstick skillet, preferably a large one measuring twelve inches across. (If you only have a ten-inch skillet, decrease the amount of beets in the recipe from two pounds to one and a half pounds; the quantity given for other ingredients can remain the same.) And keep the heat moderate. Too-quick cooking will burn the sugary outside of the pancake while leaving the inside raw.

Beets bleed, as you know. Peel them over the sink, and wash the grater or food processor as soon as you're done with it, and you won't have any serious consequences. Oh, and wear an apron.

2 pounds beets (about 3 very large or 4 to 6 medium)
2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
Minced parsley or a few rosemary leaves for garnish

1. Trim the beets and peel them as you would potatoes; grate them in a food processor or by hand. Begin preheating a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.

2. Toss the grated beets in a mixing bowl with the rosemary, salt and pepper. Add about half the flour; toss well, add the rest of the flour, then toss again.

3. Place the butter in the skillet and heat until it begins to turn nut-brown. Scrape the beet mixture into the skillet, and press it down with a spatula to form a round. With the heat at medium to medium-high -the pancake should be gently sizzling -- cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the bottom of the beet cake is nicely crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Slide the cake out onto a plate, top with another plate, invert the two plates and return the cake to the pan. Continue to cook, adjusting the heat if necessary, until the second side is browned, another 10 minutes or so. Garnish, cut into wedges, and serve hot or at room temperature.

With Minimal Effort:

Beet Salad with Vinaigrette: You don't need to cook the grated beets; simply toss them, raw, with any vinaigrette (see pages 208-210). Given their sweetness, a strong, harsh vinaigrette, with a high percentage of vinegar, is best.