Beets and Taters

"What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow."  A. A. Milne

Someone told me that they had this great side dish for the holidays, which consisted of roasted chunks of beets and sweet potato.  According to their recollection the beets and sweet potatoes were simply scrubbed, cut into chunks, tossed with olive oil, and roasted.  I thought that sounded like a nice start to a recipe.  I researched other variations on this theme and came up with this little dish.

Ingredients:
  2 largish beets, peeled and cut into chunks
  3 T olive oil
  3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
  1 t salt
  1/2 t black pepper
  1 largish sweet potato, scrubbed and cut into chunks
  4 small Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
  1 red onion, peeled, halved and cut into thick slices
 
Distructions:
  Toss the beets with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and roast on a large pan at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Note - parchment paper on the pan makes cleanup easy. This is a good time to get the other ingredients together while the beets are doing their thing.

Meanwhile, toss the other ingredients in a bowl with the additional 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  When the timer goes off after the initial 15 minutes, add these ingredients to the beets and roast for an additional hour, tossing the ingredients every 20 minutes.  This will give you three blocks of time during which you can clean a cupboard, shampoo a small dog, or give yourself a manicure. Serve hot.

As this makes a goodly amount of side dish, I felt compelled to create a second way to enjoy this lovely concoction.  I took the cold leftovers and tossed them with a splash of balsamic vinegar and chunks of avocado.  By serving them on a bed of spinach this dish becomes a salad!  I happen to have leftovers because the love of my life will not eat anything that contains beets. More for me!

Loveya
The Mom