Tierra Vegetables-purveyors of the very finest! Lee and Wayne James, a brother and sister team, operate an unusual 15-acre farm in Healdsburg, 70 miles north of San Francisco. While most of their farm is devoted to market garden vegetables and to a small vineyard, their true love lies in growing chiles. 20 varieties they sell fresh, dried or smoked. They also sell 15 varieties of fresh sweet peppers and sweet chiles. They also raise a small flock of Shetland sheep! Tierra Vegetables-purveyors of the very finest

 

Balsamic-Dressed Roasted Beets
from the Mariquita Farms website

6 medium beets (about 2 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 star anise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Leave root and 1 inch of stem on beets; scrub with a brush. Wrap beets in foil. Bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool beets to room temperature. Peel and cut each beet into 8 wedges.
Combine juice, vinegar, sugar, and star anise in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/3 cup (about 10 minutes). Discard star anise. Combine beets, vinegar mixture, salt, and pepper; toss well.


Beet Borscht*
adapted from the Joy of Cooking

1/2 cup chopped carrots*

1 cup chopped onions
2 cups beets

1 Tbsp butter
2 cups stock

1 cup shredded cabbage
1 Tbsp vinegar

Sour cream and black pepper
Chopped potatoes, optional Chopped celery, optional
Chop the carrots, onions, beets, potatoes, etc. until fine. Barely cover with boiling water and simmer gently for about 15 mins. Add butter, stock, cabbage and vinegar and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and optional sausage.
*There are lots of versions of borscht. It is what you call a forgiving recipe. This recipe calls for carrots but some of the other ones I looked at don’t. Some call for tomato paste as well. Lee says she puts everything in the food processor to make the prep really quick. This is also really good the day after.

Baked Beets with Balsamic Vinegar, Marjoram and Garlic
Submitted by Amy Catelani Windrem (in 2004), via Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef Takes Off


1 pound fresh raw beets, preferably golf-ball size
10 cloves garlic, unpeeled and squashed
1 handful of fresh marjoram or oregano, leaves picked from stems
salt and freshly ground pepper
10 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Tear off around 5 ft of aluminum foil and fold it in half to give you double thickness. If you can only get larger beets, halve them (or make them the size you want) to speed up the cooking time. Place them in the middle of the foil with the garlic and marjoram (or oregano), season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper, then fold the sides in the middle. Before you seal the foil, add the vinegar and olive oil. Scrunch or fold the foil together to seal at the top. Put on a baking sheet and place in the preheated oven and cook for around 1 hour, until tender. Serve in the bag at the table---lovely.