Beet Greens with Young Beets Recipe ingredients

To prepare this Beet Greens with Young Beets Recipe, first select young beets when they are not larger than an English walnut; the tops will then be just the right age to be tender and sweet. Wash thoroughly in several waters and examine each leaf for lurking worms. If one water through which it is passed is strongly salted, it will cause his wormship to leave the leaf at once. Be careful not to break the tender skin of the beet, or the rich red juice will be lost in cooking.

Put them in enough slightly salted boiling water to well cover them and boil quickly until tender; it should require from thirty to forty-five minutes. Take them out of the kettle when done and plunge the beets only, not the tops, into very cold water, and the skins will very readily rub off with the fingers. Drain the greens and cut them up, not too fine; add a plenty of melted butter, a tablespoonful of vinegar or lemon juice, and pepper and salt. Mix lightly with a silver fork, arrange them on a shallow, hot dish or platter, cut the beets in halves and lay them in a border around the greens. To make the dish more ornamental the beets may be alternated with slices of hardboiled egg, and a mayonnaise or boiled dressing passed with or poured over it.