Minimal Tuesday

We have to tell the ugly truth around here. That's what public diaries on the Internet are for, right?

Here it is: No one in my house really likes leftovers. They just sit in the fridge in little tupperwares where they then proceed to decompose. If there is a very tasty leftover, such as one from a restaurant, it may be eaten before dawn, vampire style, by my spouse. Otherwise, it's more or less history. The solution: don't make more than two meals worth of any given dish and be prepared with simple recipes that can be made in mere minutes.

While it sounds like more work to make yet another weeknight meal, the upside is that you get to eat a variety of foods and don't need to be afraid of the rotting guacamole monster that grew legs about a month ago when you open the fridge. Plus, you won't be tempted to call The Pizza Man because there's "nothing good in the fridge."

So, that brings us to tonight's recipe for Beets With Shrimp Over Pasta. This is a recipe from Mark Bittman, the New York Times food columnist who writes The Minimalist series. I really like Mark's flavorful, easy recipes. Plus, he looks and sounds like my cousin, Hank, who is a good cook, too.

Over the summer, Mark published a list of 100 quick recipes, including Beets With Shrimp Over Pasta, that could be made with little effort from on-hand or readily available ingredients. Most of them can be expanded into more robust meals. If company is coming, you can whip up a duo or trio of these recipes in minutes for an impressive spread. It was downright inspiring. Nerd that I am, I made a matrix of all the ingredients so that when I went grocery shopping I could stock up.

Beets With Shrimp Over Pasta became a family favorite. Even my twenty-something babysitter who is a self-described picky eater loves it. Many of us live in doubt of beets because of bad experiences in early childhood. My first exposure to beets was jarred borscht (a beet juice of sorts with shredded pieces of beets floating frighteningly in it). I did not eat beets until I was 29 and then it was unforgettable. I had a roast beet salad (at Erwin in Chicago) on my first date with the man I married. From then on, I was a fan. I think the salad is still on the menu.

If you can't try the salad at Erwin, this recipe will change your attitude about eating beets. It has a beautiful purple color, although tonight I'm using yellow beets so it will be a beautiful gold color (I hope) and a creamy texture. The creamy texture is the result of a good application of butter, but if you want to cut back on the saturated fat, do a 50/50 blend of butter and olive oil.

Here are my instructions for Mark Bittman's recipe:
Thaw a bag of cooked shrimp and pat dry with a paper towel. Peel and thinly slice two medium-sized beets and cut into strips. Or, use precooked beets from the produce section or canned or jarred beets. Just make sure they aren't pickled. Or maybe not. This could be good with pickled beets and maybe some capers. Haven't tried it.

Anyway, heat a frying pan, melt two tablespoons of butter in a pan (or one tablespoon each of butter and olive oil). Add the beats and let cook, stirring now and then. In the meantime, heat water to boiling and make the pasta. I use angle hair because it cooks in three minutes.

When the beets are soft, transfer them to a bowl and make sure you get all that buttery goodness in there with them. Drain the pasta and mix it with the beets. In the pan that had the beets, cook the thawed shrimp until they are warm. Toss with beets and pasta. Serve with a little salad and bread.

This recipe will make you feel virtuous for having used one of the healthiest (and still trendy) ingredients around.