Beet This

When I first started to cook for myself, grocery shopping was actually one of the most intimidating steps of the meal preparation process. How do you tell what color constitutes ripe and which texture constitutes freshness? While it has become one of my most enjoyable parts outside from eating, I am often challenged each time I shop for a meal. My challenges mainly come from lack of experience and knowledge - not just around matching the right ingredients but as far as what certain ingredients actually are.

Believe it or not, beets were always one of the scarier vegetable to me. They are roots that look dirty at first glance, they have color that stains even your skin, and I never knew what to do with the extra leaves on top. Unlike potatoes or tomatoes, beets are not part of the everyday Vietnamese cuisine and thus were never a part of neither my diet nor knowledge growing up.

In recent years however, beets have become one of my favorite thing to serve at any meals. The plant – to my surprise - is extremely easy to prepare and can be served either hot or cold and does not need much to compliment. Not only is the taste full of flavors – the deep colors of the root allows for great presentation at no expense of extreme creativity.

Easy, good, and pretty and requires only 20 minutes to broil, you can’t beet that!