Summer is the worst time to grill. I know that grilling keeps the heat outside, that it draws us into the great outdoors, and that it minimizes the dishes. But as my stepfather said to me during a grilling lesson, “It’s not a good night of grilling unless you’re drenched with sweat, you’ve got ash in your hair, and you get burned at least once.”
Still, we grill. We grill meat and vegetables and even fruit. We splurge on flank steak and eat piles of grilled zucchini that drip sweetness and salt. We grill peaches until they create their own caramel, and we grill corn right in its husk and marvel that we’d eat it at any other time, in any other way. But I really head for the grill when the chill comes in at night and we’ve closed all the windows to keep the afternoon heat in. I want an excuse to stay outside when the days get shorter. Let the rest of the world grill for Fourth of July. The best of grilling season starts on Labor Day.
This is a recipe that will take you from this season into the next. In New England, the fall begins to creep in in early August. It might be a smell or a pocket of cold air in the middle of warmth, but that transition makes it my favorite time of year to cook, inside or out. Of course, the produce is especially good then, and late summer beets are ideal for the grill. They are sweeter and taste more like the earth than beets that have sat in storage, and grilling concentrates the sugar on the crispy edges of each slice. Find nice large beets for this, so you don’t lose them through the grates of your grill.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1½ pounds red or golden beets (3 to 5 medium beets), cut into ½-inch slices
- 4 ounces tender arugula
- 2 ounces chèvre
- Large flake sea salt, such as Maldon
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Heat your grill until it’s quite hot.
- Combine the olive oil with the balsamic vinegar in a small jar, giving it a good shake to emulsify. Paint both sides of each beet slice with the dressing, reserving the leftovers to dress the salad at the end. Grill the beets, taking care not to lose them in the grates of the grill, until tender and brown in spots, 6 to 8 minutes per side. Try a slice and make sure it’s tender all the way through. If it’s still tough and earthy, give them a few more minutes.
- While the beets cook, make a bed of arugula on a large platter. Lay the grilled beets out over the arugula, and top with small dollops of chèvre. Drizzle with the remaining dressing. Top with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
