Middle Eastern beet puree

This recipe is from CSA member Cynthia Hughen.

There is a beautiful cookbook called Jerusalem by Yotam Ottoelnghi  which contains an amazing recipe for beets –

It involves pureeing about a pound (after roasting and peeling) with garlic, a small red chile and then mixing with a generous cup of greek yogurt, date syrup (which I didn’t have, so I used maple syrup instead), olive oil, and Za’atar (spice mix which you can make or buy in specialty stores – worth having on hand!).

Puree everything and then top with nuts (they called for hazelnuts – I used walnuts) and feta or goat cheese sprinkled on top.

• 1 pound beets
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 generous cup Greek yogurt
• 1 whole small red chili
• 1 TBSP date syrup (can use maple syrup)
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP Za’atar
• 1 handful nuts
• feta cheese