Wine Braised Beets
Hearty, comforting and perfect for a cold night. Sweet, earthy beets are braised in red wine and served on top of garlic mashed potatoes for an amazing meal. This is a great dish to serve with meat or cooked lentils. Honestly, I wish I had made this as a side dish to share at Thanksgiving but heck–I can bookmark this for next year. It’s simple to prepare and extremely flavorful. The garlic mashed potatoes are inspired by my dear friend Chesua who made them for us at Thanksgiving. She based her recipe on an Ina Garten recipe and they are full-proof! The technique (and secret weapon) is to boil a whole head of garlic in olive oil. The result when the mixture is stirred into the cooked potatoes is extremely moist, flavorful and damn good! Seriously, these mashed potatoes are a game changer and pair really well with the wine braised beets. And unlike traditional mashed potatoes made with butter, these are really wonderful as leftovers. They remain moist and don’t dry out! And leftover wine-braised beets? They’re even better the next day. This is a recipe I’ll continue to turn to all winter long. Taylor and I enjoyed this as a complete meal with green lentils that we stirred into the beets after I took this photo. So whether you’re enjoying this as a side to accompany steak, turkey or hearty lentils there’s room to play around. I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we do. It’s a stick to your bones kind of meal but in a good, healthy way!
Also–for all those folks out there missing the print button IT’S BACK!!! The little icon next to the recipe. Happing cooking! Thank you Ben for helping a girl out! This whole website move has been amazing and challenging all at the same time. Thank you for being patient everyone.
Cheers from Tumbleweed Farm!
Wine Braised Beets
Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 50 minutes Serves: 4-6
Wine Braised Beets- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 pounds beets (without their greens) cut into 1-inch pieces (no need to peel)
- 1 1/4 cups red wine (any good drinking red wine will work)
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon super fine sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 head of garlic, peeled and broken into cloves
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 pounds yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (can sub with almond milk to make them vegan)
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
- In a large, heavy bottom saucepan heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Add the beets, wine, broth, bay leaf, thyme, sugar, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the beets are tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the beets from the pan and increase the temperature to high. Boil the remaining liquid until it's reduced by half. Stir the beets back into the sauce and set aside.
- In a small saucepan bring the olive oil and garlic to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside. The garlic will continue to cook in the oil.
- Meanwhile place the potatoes in a large pot of lightly salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. With a slotted spoon remove the potatoes to a large bowl, reserving the cooking liquid. Use the same slotted spoon to remove the garlic cloves from the oil. Mash the potatoes and garlic. Beat in the olive oil (it may seem really oily at first...don't worry!!) Continue to beat in the oil and then add 3/4 cup of the reserved cooking liquid, cream, salt and pepper to taste and mix until the potatoes are creamy. Thin with additional cooking liquid if need be.
- Divide the mashed potatoes between bowls and top with the braised beets and spoon a few tablespoons of the beet cooking liquid over the potatoes.
Notes
*Use this recipe as a guide *Adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary
Delicious! And gorgeous plating and photos as always!
I’m nervous about boiling a cup of olive oil in a small saucepan. Does it actually require boiling or just heating up?
You need to boil the oil. You only boil it for a quick moment and then reduce the heat. A small saucepan should work just fine–just make sure it’s large enough to hold a cup of liquid with a bit of head room. Let me know how you like them–Ina Garten hasn’t let me down before and these are based on her recipe. They’re full-proof. Happy cooking! Keep me posted. xo
Thank you thank you
I clicked that magic button and now can have these beets and potatoes for supper !!!!!
yum yum
yay! Happy printing and cooking!
OK….NOW your new website is absolutely perfect!! Love the print button! Thank you!!
Whoop! xo