Dinner: Pasta, Beets, & Bleu (Not the Dog) Cheese

I LOVE my local farmer.

Yes, I have a local farmer.

Who I know.

Who delivers to me.

Who knows how to cook her veggies.

So when I email her about the beets I ordered she says, "My educated guess is that the three beets we gave you would be very close to the 2 pounds you need. Just peel them ahead of steaming and you'll be all set."

That's RAD.

And when I emailed her the recipe I wanted to make tonight, she suggested, "Since the recipe wants you to cut the beets into wedges anyway, to save a lot of time and energy, why not just cut the beets into the sizes you want to and then steam them until they are tender (use a fork)."

Okay, what I'm trying to get to is--buy from a local farmer, trust your local farmer, and talk to your local farmer about how to cook their foods.

Your end result could be:

Pasta with Beets and Bleu Cheese (from Everyday Food Magazine with revisions)

You can substitute two 16-ounce cans of whole beets for the fresh ones. Drain them and pat dry, then cut into wedges; continue with step 2.

Prep: 15 minutes

Total: 1 hour

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 pounds small red or golden beets, scrubbed well

2 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1/3 pound gemelli, or other short tubular pasta

6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (1 cup)

Directions:

Peel and slice beets into wedges. Put wedges in steamer. Steam until tender with a fork.

In a large bowl, toss beets with garlic, orange juice, oil, and coriander; season with salt and pepper.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot; toss with half of the blue cheese and enough reserved pasta water to coat pasta. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the pasta with the beet mixture; top with basil and remaining blue cheese. Serve immediately.

Prep: Summer Mix

Dinner: Aimee Mann

Clean-up: Stevie Wonder