Roasted Beets

I had never had roasted beets until I made them recently. I LOVED them! I kind of think, when many people hear the word "beets," they think of pickled beets, with some sort of vinegar brine used. I simply used the recipe below, and that was how I ate the beets (OK, I didn't eat the baking sheet or the aluminum foil, but it wasn't because I didn't try).

Ingredients:

2 large beets, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
baking sheet and aluminum foil

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Put a large sheet of aluminum foil on the baking sheet. Spread the sliced beets on the foil, drizzle the olive oil over the beets, then work the beets around to coat all slices with the oil. Sprinkle the salt over the beets and lay the thyme sprigs on top. Pull the foil up around the beets to form an enclosed pouch. Roast the beets for about an hour, carefully open the pouch and use a fork to see if the beets are tender, if not, re-close the pouch and allow another 10 to 15 minutes roasting time.

Ready for roasting, with thyme on top ...

After roasting (thyme stems removed) ....

WORD HISTORY:
Beet-This word for the bulbous part of the beet plant taproot, has an uncertain origin, but Latin had "beta." Borrowed by the West Germanic languages from Latin centuries ago, as Old English had "bete," which then later became "beet," where it has remained ever since. Other Germanic languages have: German "Beete/Bete," Low German Saxon "Beet," Dutch "biet," West Frisian "byt," while Norwegian has "bete" and Swedish has "beta," both borrowings, likely from Low German, as they had much contact with Low German in the north of Germany.