Salt-Crusted Beets

I don't remember where I first heard about roasting beets in salt. But I filed it away in my 'to-try' vault. And when beets showed up in my CSA box this week, I decided to give it a whirl. It's an awful lot of salt; and I don't know how they rate compared to regularly Roasted Beets. I'll report back tonight.

But this was pretty high on the fun factor. The boys thought it was like excavating beet-mummies. Okay. I can run with that.

3 medium beets, scrubbed and dried completely
2 C medium grained salt
juice from 1 lemon
2 T fresh herbs (I used chives and parsley)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place the salt and herbs in the bottom of a baking dish. Squeeze the lemon juice over the salt and nestle your beets in the salt. Scoop the salt over the top of the beets and press firmly to create a crust.

Roast in the oven for 75-90 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cool, you can crack the crust and extract the beets. Peel and use the way you would use any roasted beets. I plan to slice them an use them in salad tonight. Photos and recipe of that to come.

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