Orange and Brown Sugar-Glazed Beets

Ingredients

For the beets:
2 pounds red beets
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¼ cup Redpath® Dark Brown Sugar, packed
½ to ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
For the garnish:
1 navel orange, skin removed, sliced into ¼-inch pieces
2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Takes 115 Minutes, serves 8.

Instructions

Oven-roast the beets: Preheat oven to 425°F. Line an 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil. Scrub beets under cold water to remove any dirt. Cut the larger beets in half. Rub beets with vegetable oil and place into dish. Cover dish with foil, transfer to oven and bake for 1½ hours or until beets are soft. Remove from oven and leave covered for about 30 minutes until cool to the touch.
Peel and prepare the beets: (TIP: Wear disposable gloves to avoid staining your hands.) Gently rub the outside of the beets with a dry paper towel to peel away the skins. Have a paring knife handy to assist with stubborn skins and to remove caps. Cut beets into 1-inch chunks. Set aside.
Prepare sauce: Melt butter in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook until soft and translucent. Sprinkle flour into skillet, stir and cook for 1 minute. Do the same with the Redpath® Dark Brown Sugar, stirring the sugar to incorporate. Add the orange juice, stir and heat until thickened. Add more orange juice for a thinner sauce.
Assemble: Add the prepared beets to skillet stir to heat through. Add half of the prepared oranges, toss or stir and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve: Transfer to bowl or small platter before garnishing with remaining orange and parsley. Serve immediately.

Here is this season’s tastiest side, ORANGE AND BROWN SUGAR-GLAZED BEETS!

We worked with our friends at Redpath Sugar to create this post. Head HERE for more great recipes and tips about culinary tools, techniques and inspiration.

Raise your right hand and repeat after me: I promise to make this absolutely phenomenal ORANGE AND BROWN SUGAR-GLAZED BEETS recipe!

Now let me tell you why this is one promise you’ll want to keep.

We get excited whenever we jump on a call with our friends from REDPATH SUGAR. I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy using various sugars, so when they asked us to dream up a savoury side for the holidays, two things happened. First, we got straight to work creating a side dish that we know you’re going to love.

Second thing, and this was an added bonus, we discovered our ORANGE AND BROWN SUGAR-GLAZED BEETS aren’t just for the holidays – they pair perfectly with virtually everything, from fish and poultry to meat and vegetarian mains.

Before I go through some of the key steps and considerations, I suggest you visit redpathsugar.com. It’s always wonderful to visit their site for for ideas, baking tips and inspiration. They appreciate good food just like us!

OK, I know you’re excited to learn more about this recipe so, let’s get started:

Ingredients for Orange and Brown Sugar-Glazed Beets

MAKING DISHES

In my humble opinion, this beet dish is perfection. It’s pretty sweet when a side dish comes together using quality ingredients that seem like they’re meant to be together. Make sure to purchase beets pulled fresh from the ground and also squeeze your own orange juice. Lastly, if you have parsley growing in your garden, use it. It’ll make this side taste sensational.

BEETS

Beets are the taproot portion of the beet plant. There are different varieties, but don’t use a mix for this recipe. You might come across white or golden-coloured beets, or even the red and white striped cultivar that looks like a peppermint, but for best results, stick with this plan and use red. We love the hit of bright red colour on a dinner plate.

Oven roasting the beets is easy enough, but don’t forget this tip: wear disposable gloves when peeling. This prevents your hands from turning red when handling this very colourful vegetable. Can’t find gloves? Ask a food handler at your local supermarket and I bet they’ll be happy to give you a pair.

SAUCE

The ingredients used to make the sauce give this recipe its memorable, pleasing flavours. First we sauté finely diced shallots in butter. Next we melt Redpath® DARK BROWN SUGAR into the skillet before thickening things up with flour and orange juice. Make sure to carefully (it’s hot) taste the sauce as soon as it thickens. Love the bright flavour of the brown sugar with shallots and orange juice – so fab!

SKILLET

Using a skillet makes the final steps of this recipe a cinch. Heating the roasted beets together with the diced navel orange produces an appetizing aroma. I suggest tossing everything together gently in the pan to coat the beets and orange evenly.

GARNISH

Truth is, as enchanting as the colour of beets in the sauce is, I wanted a few final touches to really make it special if presented during the holidays. Garnishing a bowl of the beets with additional pieces of orange and chopped parsley is just the thing. The colours of the finished ORANGE AND BROWN SUGAR-GLAZED BEETS dish will have everyone around the table saying the same thing. “Excuse me, will you please pass me the beets?”

SERVED RIGHT

I left things somewhat vague off the top when I said this dish goes with everything. In crafting it, I did have two of my favourite powerhouse mains in mind: DRY-BRINED TURKEY and OVEN-BAKED HAM. Having tried the beets with both I can assure you this truly is a perfect side for each.

One final suggestion for service is that this side is best enjoyed hot, yet it’s still pretty tasty cold – just saying.