Review: Colorful Vegetable Medley with Chive Aioli (Oct '00)

[Norma]

Peggy, I made this also but my review on the looks of it was negative. The microwaved beets were ugly. I like your idea of cooking things separately and putting it together later. I ended up eating mine cold with the dip. You heated yours. How did you serve it. Was the aioli mixed in or was it separate for dipping. I thought the aioli too was very good.

[Peggy]

Norma,

So sorry to hear that the dish was so unattractive! Did you use fresh beets? The canned whole beets worked perfectly. They were actually quite small so I didn't cut them into pieces. Since I only microwaved the beets and the steamed vegetables for about 2-3 minutes, it was just long enough for everything to warm up. All of the vegetables maintained their own color and I thought the presentation was really nice. I served it in a oblong serving dish with the aioli on the side. People just spooned it onto the vegetables on their plate.

Did you mix the chives in the blender? I really liked that finished product when it was blended in, though I didn't try it the other way.

I must admit the leftovers the next day were kind of ugly! The beet juice had stained the broccoli and carrots and it wasn't as attractive!

Peggy

[Peggy]

I made this recipe last week and I wanted to give it a good review. It was very colorful (just like the title says!) and festive looking. I never would have thought to mix beets, broccoli and carrots together in the same dish! The Chive Aioli was an excellent accompaniment to the vegetables too!

I must admit to making some changes though. I used canned whole beets instead of fresh just for convenience. I steamed the broccoli and carrots in my vegetable steamer and then mixed them together with the beets in the serving dish. Then, I microwaved them together prior to serving. I also misread the directions for the aioli and put the chives in the blender along with the sour cream mixture. The aioli turned out light green instead of white with green speckles. I like it better green and would do it again that way.

This vegetable dish deserves a look from those of you who passed it by before. I think I may serve it on Christmas because the colors are very festive.

Peggy

[Norma]

Peggy, I forgot the chives altogether. I stirred them in the next day when I discovered my mistake. No one ate the aioli anyway. It was too tart for them, but I really liked it.

Yes, I used fresh beets. They turned out dull and dry looking. I was kinda embarrassed to serve them. I had no idea they would look that way. I have learned to try the recipes first before serving to company. The shiny, pretty canned whole ones sound easy and attractive. I'll remember that. If I were to cook fresh beets again, I would use a pressure cooker. They would come out pretty then.

[SusanL]

Peggy and Norma-would roasted red beets work for this dish? I have never tried canned red beets. Have been thinking about this recipe since I saw it and will have to try it this weekend. Maybe I will buy both fresh and canned red beets. Peggy, I will take your advice and put the chives in the aoli, it sounds better than on top, thanks!

[Peggy]

Susan,

I think roasted beets would be fine. I have never like the results of microwaving fresh beets. I had used the canned to save time. In favor of the canned, I have to say that they were all so perfectly sized and the color was so perfect. They were even bitesized. I will used the canned when I make it for Christmas. Just add everything together at the last moment and microwave just until reheated.

Let me know what you think. I will be interested to hear about using the roasted beets.

Peggy

[Jen]

Norma, this may be a dumb question, but did you peel the beets? They will continue to look dry and lumpy until the peels are taken off. What's underneath is the shiny, pretty red beets. I think the ones in the can just come pre-peeled (so they would save you a lot of work)! I'm just wondering if that was your problem, since I've never seen beets that are dry looking after the peels come off. I've always used fresh beets - don't think I've ever even bought canned - but for this dish, I agree it would have made things a lot easier. I did really like it, though.