Beets are growing in our garden as we speak. I’d like it if, as I typed, they did a little real life time-lapse effect, and expanded quickly from seed to golden globe, ready for roasting. Alas, gardening requires patience.

Our beet seeds were sown on the 14th of April, and my garden calendar alleges that they’ll be ready for harvest this weekend, along with the Paris Market carrots. Judging from both the carrot and beet greens on this side of the soil, I’m thinking that they may need a little more time under ground.

Last week, the taunting of the immature beet greens (you can see where this is going, so I may spare you, just so long as I know that you know that the threat was there) caused me to succumb to the call of the loose beets (this, too, has tremendous, yet terrible, potential) whilst at the grocery store.

As we are growing golden beets, and because golden beets are pretty, and also because they are less of a staining mess than red beets, a trio of those loose golden beets traveled home with me, and were then deposited straight away (well, after a peel and a scrub) into the oven with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of thyme.

On Sunday, mid-garden chores, a panic erupted over what we’d have for lunch.

We’ve been on a mission to eat as much as possible from what we already have on the property. This isn’t a boring or painful chore, as it involves eating our way through items that have been neglected in the pantry – usually grains that are quite tasty, as well as harvesting a pound of asparagus from our garden every other day, and, of course, we’re eating eggs with abandon, as the hens each lay one egg per day.

Eggs. So versatile. So delicious. But that is a story for another day. Today, we speak of beets.

Though not before we establish that we had already eaten eggs at breakfast, so eggs were out. Even eat-whatcha-got types need variety from meal to meal.

We were standing in the garden, lamenting the lack of zucchini (this will be a moment to cherish in a month or so when we’re overrun), and had committed to saving the asparagus for dinner.

An obvious contender for lunch harvest was the bushy butter lettuce, so we had a building block. Beyond that, I couldn’t quite come up with a meal. I think I was delirious with mulch-stroke, having just mulched the tomato bed, the strawberries, and the f-f-f-f-fava beans (even typing it, it’s hard to resist the temptation. As you can see.).

Oh, but wait. A little cold water and distance from the garden helped me regain my senses. There was that honey-lime dressing that I’d prepared for a different salad. And a couple of straggling pieces of bacon. And the goat cheese that had been on sale.

Ahhhhhh…and the lovely, loose golden beets.

Sure, it’s all so easy, once you know you have the goods, but when one is suffering from mulch-stroke, one cannot, and should not, underestimate how stupid one can become.

Print

Beet, Goat Cheese, and Bacon Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients

Beets:
• 1 pound beets (approximately 3 medium), peeled, trimmed, sliced lengthwise in half, the halves then sliced lengthwise into 3 wedges
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
Dressing:
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• the zest and juice of one lime (the juice will equal approximately 2 tablespoons)
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
The other stuff:
• 1 head butter or Boston Bibb lettuce
• 2 slices of bacon, cooked to desired doneness and crumbled
• 2 ounces goat cheese
• 2 tablespoons toasted walnuts (350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes if whole, less time if chopped)

Instructions

1. Even though I'm pretty sure you already know what to do, I'm still going to lay it out, just for the sake of being thorough:
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the beets in a medium baking dish, pour in the olive oil and honey, sprinkle the thyme over, season with salt and pepper, then give it all a good stir. Cover the dish, and roast until the beets are tender and are easily pierced with a fork, 30 to 35 minutes.
3. Next, whisk together the oil, honey, zest, and juice in a medium bowl, then season the dressing with salt and pepper.
4. Clean those greens, remove and dispose of any garden pests if necessary (I'm talking to you, slugs), chop the greens coarsely (not the slugs - at least not during the salad prep), and arrange a bed of lettuce on your lunch plates.
5. Arrange the beets on your plates as though you're making a clock face that's missing a few hours, crumble half the goat cheese on each plate, likewise with the bacon, and, yep, the same with the walnuts. Drizzle a bit of the dressing over top, then serve the salad forth and realize that you didn't really need to call it a panic about what to have for lunch.
6. Soooo melodramatic sometimes. I blame it on the mulch-stroke.

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https://tinyfarmhouse.com/2012/06/beet-goat-cheese-and-bacon-salad-with-honey-lime-dressing/