My favorite special beet recipe is to bake them in a salt crust, which cuts the sweetness, and eat them with a creme fraiche (or sour cream) and horseradish sauce. To keep it from getting heavy, there is thyme and orange zest in the salt and the sauce, adding great bright flavors. This is a different way of eating beets, and I usually break it out when I stop appreciating the deliciousness of my other recipes (at the peak of harvest, usually!)

The amazing upside of beets is that they store amazingly well in the freezer after you cook them, did you know? Bake and then freeze, it will be the most spectacular taste mid-winter. Last year, my CSA had a bonanza of beets; I was so tired of them by the end of the summer and so loved them in the winter months.