Pave Beet Greens
Super healthy!
These are beautiful arranged on a platter or standing on individual plates next to an entree. Since the size of beet green bunches varies considerably, it’s hard to predict how many bunches you will need. As a rule of thumb, one large bunch of beet greens will create enough to serve two people, allowing two cylinders per person. When shopping for your beets, select bunches that have the youngest and fullest set of undamaged greens.
Ingredients
2 bunches of beet greens trimmed with kitchen scissors to remove the tough stems
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sesame seeds toasted lightly to a golden color in a small skillet
Instructions
Wash the beet leaves at least twice in a sink full of cold water. Using kitchen scissors, cut off the thick stems.
Place the greens in a vegetable steamer in a saucepan with and inch or so of simmering water. Steam until just tender. Drain well by putting the greens into a colander and pressing as much of the water out as possible.
Further dry the steamed greens by pressing them between two clean towels. Next, take the pressed greens and place them on a sheet of saran wrap. Shape them onto a long roll about 3/4 inch in diameter, pressing firmly and using the saran wrap to hold them together. You can chill the resulting “log” of beet greens until later if you wish.
Brown the butter, then mix in the sesame oil, lemon juice and salt. Reserve for later.
At serving time, cut through the saran wrap with a very sharp knife so that you have 1 inch tall cylinders.
Unwrap the cylinders and discard the plastic. Paint the top of each cylinder with light coat of melted butter, then dip the tops of each cylinder into a bowl of the toasted sesame seeds. This will cover the top of the cylinder with seeds. Place the cylinders on the surface you want to serve them on. Lightly drizzle each cylinder with the butter mixture.