Harvard Beets
Our family loves beets, especially Harvard Beets. Don’t bother with anything that comes in a can or pre-cooked in a vacuum pack. Go for fresh or nothing!
Beets can be eaten raw and are very good in a salad. They have an earthy taste. They are also low in calories and high in nutrients.
If you aren’t familiar with eating fresh beets, let me warn you that they are intensely red. They will stain your cabinet top, your clothes and your hands, as well as everything else. Just let me say that tomorrow you will know you ate beets.
The peel of fresh beets is thin and tightly attached. The best way to peel beets is after you cook them. This recipe is two step. First the steam then peel step, followed by the flavor and re-cook step.
This was the recipe where I learned that the instant pot doesn’t work without enough liquid. I had read that the first mistake everyone makes is putting too much liquid in the Instant Pot. The second mistake is apparently putting too little. You should have at least a cup of liquid in the final cook on this recipe, otherwise the pot won’t pull pressure.
Yield: 3-4 servings
Special Equipment: Instant Pot (but I used to do this on the stove back in the day)
Ingredients:
STEAM STEP:
4 med beets with long leaves and roots trimmed
2 cups water
FLAVOR STEP:
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup water (or other flavorful liquid – dry white wine is good)
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
(sometimes I like to add Tobasco or Siracha if I want it hot.)
Instructions:
Put the 2 cups of water and steaming rack in the Instant Pot. The beets go on top. Put the pressure lid on and cook for 20 minutes at high pressure. Let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes. If you have very large beets, you might want to add 10 minutes to the pressure time.
Remove the lid and take the hot beets to the sink. Running them under cold water rub the skins off. The skins should come off easily, but if the beets are older they might require some scrubbing with a paper towel. If you have to pull out your carrot peeler, you didn't cook them long enough, but this is OK. You are cooking them a second time, anyway.
Cube the peeled beets.
Rinse out the pot and return the beets to it. Add the remaining ingredients. I put all the remaining ingredients into a cup, stir and taste. Be sure the flavor is the way you like it because this is what will coat the beets. Stir and put the lid back on the pot. Set the pressure time to 0 minutes. Let the pot cool for 5 minutes before removing the lid. Give the beets a stir to coat them with the sauce and serve.
You can hold them in the instant pot for quite a while.