Limed Golden Beets with Brussels Sprouts and Vegan Sausage

It's been a long time since I cooked with beets, so today I decided to make something similar to the Golden Beets with Brussels Sprouts that I had made last February, but chose a variation on my own suggestion to try this dish with seitan (primarily instead using a link of 1/4" cubes of apple sage vegan sausage), steamed the beets instead of cooking them, and for the first time opened and tried a new tangerine extra virgin olive oil that I brought back from the market at San Francisco's Ferry Building.

The oil is made by crushing olives with tangerines by the Stonehouse California Olive Oil. According to the company's website, their 80-year-old olive trees are farmed organically in foothills just east of Chico at the edge of Table Mountain in Oroville, California. Oroville, incidentally, is where the "Mother Orange Tree", planted in 1856, is said to live and be the oldest orange tree in Northern California.

Anyway, I steamed three golden beet roots for 40 minutes. I put them in cold water for a few minutes to let me handle them, then peeled them easily by hand - no peeler was needed. I cut the peeled beet roots into chunks approximately 1" long and 1/2" in width and depth.

In the last 5 minutes of the steaming, I also tossed in a dozen Brussels sprouts. I had first removed a little from the tops and stripped the outermost leaves, then cutting each sprout in half.

Today I made one of my very infrequent stops at the gourmet store A Southern Season, and was surprised that their annual June sale with most of the store at least 20% off had begun early - this very day. I picked up a Progressive brand onion chopper; I often dice onions and have been thinking of purchasing an aid. I tried it with a medium yellow onion, but didn't find it easy to use, requiring a lot of force and taking some time for washing, so likely will return it.

In any case, when the steaming was almost done, I began sauteeing those onion pieces (diced into fine cubes less than 1/4" in size) till translucent, about 2-3 minutes, as well as a link of the vegan sausage and a little bit of leftover seitan, both chopped into 1/4" cubes. Then I added the beet leaf stems, cut into inch lengths, and let it all cook for 4 or 5 minutes.

Then, I added the beets, Brussels sprouts, and about a tablespoon of rosemary needles; a few minutes later, I added the beet leaves, hand torn into approximately 1 1/2 inch squares. I cooked for about 2 or 3 more minutes, added a little Baja Lime marinade, salt, freshly ground pepper, a little bit of paprika, and a few pinches of tarragon. I served it with fresh spinach and broccoli, some organic rose petals (my Heritage David Austin rose), and Italian crackers. It was a good dinner!