Roasted Beets with Pomegranate Molasses
It’s true when it comes to food and people — opposites attract. Just the thought of some dishes makes our mouths water: sweet and sour Asian marinades, creamy and spicy curries, smooth and crunchy Mexican fried ice cream. There’s something irresistible about having yin and yang all on one plate.
To get that polar effect for my beet salad, I opted to deglaze the pan with pomegranate molasses. That tangy, tart quality of the pomegranate was the perfect foil to the beet’s deeper, more earthy character … and of course the sautéed garlic rounded everything off. (When doesn’t garlic add to the dish? One of these days I’m going to make roasted-garlic ice cream just to see if my theory always holds true.)
You can roast the beets specifically to use them for this recipe or you can use leftover roasted slices. Canned beets would be okay in a pinch, but they will have been boiled, not roasted, and they therefore won’t have that deep taste to counterbalance the sharpness of the pomegranate. (Other good uses for leftover beets would be to toss them into a lettuce-based salad or just dress them with balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. Or you could mash them and serve them as a faux purple potato.)
Roasted Beets with Garlic & Pomegranate Molasses
1-2 roasted beet slices
Handful of cherry/grape tomatoes sliced in half OR 1-2 chopped Roma tomatoes
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced into thin rounds
1 T. balsamic vinegar
1-2 T. pomegranate molasses (depends on how much tartness your tastebuds like to embrace)
Dash of sea salt & one or two grinds of pepper
In a medium-sized frying pan, heat about 1 T. butter or ghee over medium heat until it sizzles. Add beets, tomatoes, and onion and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until the onion has softened and become translucent. Add sliced garlic and turn down the heat to medium-low (garlic scorches easily). Cook for another 2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant.
Add vinegar and pomegranate molasses — watch out for the inevitable steam that will rise up! — and stir thoroughly, scraping at the pan to deglaze it (i.e., lift up the flavorful caramelized bits that will have stuck to the pan’s surface). Caution: be sure to use the appropriate tool for your pan! Non-stick pans are more delicate than metal ones on a normal day, but that’s especially true if you’re deglazing them.
Season with salt and pepper, give the mixture one final stir, and serve piping hot.
Enjoy!
Print This Post
Tags: beets, garlic, pomegranate molasses, salad
