A Beet is just a Beet

SHE (or in this case, The Sprouted Kitchen) claimed that not all beets were that disgusting neon purple color that you see in little cylindrical containers on salad bars.  What can I say, I trusted her. And decided to try the "Deconstructed Beet Stack" recipe that was emailed to me courtesy of WebMD.

In hindsight, it must have been the word 'deconstructed' that lured me in.  I ignored the main ingredient (beets), read her entire article and looked at the rest of the stuff needed to put this puppy together...Ooooh, pretty picture.  Since I had most of the ingredients already in my pantry and/or fridge (cider vinegar, horseradish, agave nectar, yogurt, red onions and naval orange - so I was cheating a bit there), Ethan and I decided to go hunt up some beets and watercress.

A little aside about our fav produce place:  they have TONS of stuff, it's just never identified.  There was watercress, at 1.29 a bunch...but I had NO clue which of the many bunches it was.  So,  I googled  it and came up with some really pretty images.  Ethan and I, after 15 minutes of deliberation and me trying a leaf or two trying to pick up a peppery taste, narrowed it down to two different bunches that looked close to the glossy pics and went on our way.  (FYI, my choice was right; his was something called verdura or something.)

Popped the beets right in the oven when I got home...fully covered in foil, poked with a few fork tines...and went on to make the exotic sounding layering sauce - I was seriously juiced about this because you simply can't go wrong with prepared horseradish (oh no, not the creamy stuff!).  I prepped my one (naval) orange and was ready to build my deconstructed stacks.  (oxymoron?)

Perhaps the first indicator that something was off was the color of my fingers as I was peeling the beets.  Maybe not a neon purple, but it was quickly headed in that direction.  I had to scrub them with turpentine between beets.  Regardless, I began stacking.  Two cute little stacks to have with dinner...I popped them in the fridge.

Oh glory be - the color explosion that was in that container when I opened it.  (I can't believe I didn't take a picture.)  There was the former white of the sauce, now stained a horrible fuschia by the beets, the bright orange of the orange and the dim green of the watercress.  A psychedelic nightmare.  Or Great Aunt Alice's Mumu.  Or jello mold.  But I was SURE that the Sprouted Kitchen would not lead me astray.

One small taste (the boys intelligently decided to pass on the delicacy) had my mouth turning in such knots that Ethan said smugly:  "I told you so."  No second chances for my deconstructed beets.



If you don't believe me and are tempted by the gorgeous picture above (not the one to the right!!), here is the recipe:
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/deconstructed-beet-stack?page=2&print=true#.  The author notes that this will be on the menu for her next dinner party.  Trust me:  if you join me here for a PL show, there will be no neon fuschia beets on the menu!

(now that I'm thinking about it, something like that with fresh ginger instead of the beet may not be so bad...hmmmm.)