Tofu for Two

The other day I was just casually thinking about beets, and it suddenly dawned on me that fennel seed would be a perfect spice to roast them with. The moment I got the idea I knew it was a good one, and so I wrote this recipe down in a sudden burst of culinary inspiration. I didn’t really change a thing when I finally cooked this last night, and it came out even more delicious than I could have imagined! Roasted beets are always a feast, but with the fennel seeds, chili, and muscovado sugar – they are pure bliss.

I have been thinking about beets a lot lately. I don’t know why, but they are the one ingredient that has been inspiring me most this fall, and there doesn’t seem to be an ending to this state of affairs. I cannot get enough of the purple color, it simply makes me happy each time I cook with beets, and I think their earthy sweetness reflects the essence of autumn itself.

Here’s what I used:

• 6 beets, peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 big carrots, scrubbed and cut into thick sticks
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chili
• 2 teaspoons muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

First, I preheated the oven to 200 Celsius, and prepped the beets, carrots, and garlic. Then I just placed all the ingredients in a baking pan and tossed them so that each veggie piece was covered with some spices.

I first roasted the veggies for 15 minutes, tossed them around a bit, roasted for another 15 minutes, tossed, and roasted for yet another 15 minutes. After this I checked the salt, and realized the veggies were done, so I turned off the oven. The rice we were going to have with the beets wasn’t quite ready yet, so I popped the vegetables in the oven that was still hot for another 10 minutes to keep them warm.