This might just be the last of it. The last of my garden, the last of my beets and carrots, kale and salad greens. Good riddance…I mean that, I do. This past season was brutal- growing less than kind. A portion of this years beds, a number of my beautiful little food producers suffered and in the end collapsed. The worst part? I was powerless as my plants devolved to pathetic. My kale became infested with tiny bugs early on and it seemed there was nothing that I could do to deter the little fuckers. Resigned, I ate (a lot of) insects and tried to not think about it too much. Slugs took a liking to my lettuce- well, not just a liking…more accurately, it was an all consuming love. So again, I worked to discourage them in any and every way I knew how. Eventually, I just gave up and collected my ravaged greens, telling myself some sort of bullshit fairy tale about how the slugs & I were “sharing”. But the beets- my hardy beets did just fine. Same with the carrots. They were left unharmed by pests and completely immune to any of my (ahem) inconsistencies in watering. Tomatoes too- in fact, I still have tomatoes ripening on the vine as I write. In October. Unbelievable. 

I pulled the last of the beets this afternoon because I felt that it was time for them to come out and well, I wanted lunch.  Cleaned & roasted, tossed with a half dozen other ingredients, they came to be fixings for a perfectly satisfying warm spinach salad. The only problem with this satisfying salad was that it was, admittedly, a waste of a very pretty beet. These Chiogga’s with their fancy pink & white rings- they would be so lovely as a play on carpaccio or made in to chips. I didnt give them their due treatment, didnt show them off as I should have, its true. 

6 cups baby spinach

1 cup thinly sliced onion

2T olive oil

2 roma tomatoes, chopped

3T sliced kalamata olives

3T chopped fresh parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups cooked beets, sliced into small wedges (roasted or steamed)

3T balsamic vinegar

S & P

1. Place spinach in a large bowl, set aside.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened and beginning to caramelize. Add tomatoes, olives, parsley & garlic, cooking until tomatoes begin to break down. 

3. Add in the cooked beets, balsamic vinegar, S & P. Cook until heated through. 

4. Add the beet mixture to the spinach and toss well. Spinach will wilt down a bit. Serve warm.