How to stretch a pound of cherries

A reasonable argument for beets in the summer.

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This is a half batch of the below recipe! Aka a very good lunch.

We’ve officially hit the season where money spent on produce seems to have a different value. $8 for a tiny pint of strawberries? A deal! Apricots that fit neatly in the palm of my hand net out to a dollar each—I’ll take them! Tomatoes are $7 a pound? Sure thing! But then I get home and realize what I’ve done. I sometimes have to go to the farmers market with a $20 bill and nothing else to force myself to chill.

Instead of ignoring the fact that my income doesn’t really support luxuriating in hyper-seasonal produce, I’ve gotten more thoughtful about it. Treat yourself, the cherries whisper. So I do. Because if I’m lucky enough to be strolling in the Greenmarket on a Monday morning (admittedly shopping for work) and the cherries look good, I should just go for it. But I’m not just going to toss them into a butter cake—lovely, of course—because then they’re all gone.

I’m going to take a few handfuls to the beach and eat them one by one while people-watching. I’m going to smash a few (I do not own a cherry pitter) and carefully tip the flesh and juices into my morning bowl of muesli, because we have to make that more fun somehow. And then I’m going to pit some more and toss them with beets.

Beets!? Not a typo. I know, I know, they seem like a very January food, but it’s actually Beet Time too. Though obviously it’s easy to find a beet in the dead of winter, when I’d absolutely spend $30 on a pint of cherries if I knew they’d be good, beet season is upon us as well. I happened to have some in the fridge leftover from a recipe test, and as I was wondering what to do with them, I remembered one of the galettes in my forthcoming book, which, yes, pairs beets with cherries (among a couple other things I can’t tell you about yet)! I obviously was not going to make a galette, because I’m still on a break from those for sanity reasons, but I sure was going to do something with the ingredient duo. Not to sound like a recipe website headnote, but the beets’ earthiness really does bounce off the candy-sweetness of cherries, making such a special bite.

I’ll leave it there, but please try this, to make 1) the most of that $12 pound of stone fruit, and 2) yourself smile.

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Cherries & Beets Over Yogurt

Serves 4; easily multiplied

*It’s cheapest to buy raw beets and roast them yourself. (I scrub them, plunk on a piece of foil, drizzle with a tablespoon or so of water, then wrap up and roast on a sheet pan at 400ºF until tender, 40 to 60 minutes depending on their size. Let ‘em cool, then rub off the peels with a towel.) But I’d never blame you for not wanting to turn on the oven in the summer—there are a handful of brands selling cooked, peeled beets at the supermarket, many are quite reasonably priced. Do what moves you.

Ingredients
2 lemons
1 cup (224 grams) full-fat Greek yogurt, ricotta, labneh, or sour cream
2 cloves garlic, grated
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 to 8 (about 1 pound) small beets, cooked and peeled*
2 cups (about 12 ounces, pitted) sweet cherries
¼ cup olive oil, plus more for serving
6 scallions (or ½ small red onion), roots trimmed, thinly sliced
¼ cup torn mint leaves (optional)
Toast or warmed pita, for serving

Method
*If you’re roasting your own beets, start those now as noted above, then cool completely.

Zest and juice the lemons. Add all of the zest (about 2 tablespoons) and half of the juice (about 3 tablespoons) to a medium bowl. Whisk in the yogurt and garlic until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chop the beets into roughly ½-inch pieces. Place in a large bowl. Pit the cherries (either with a pitter, then tearing in half; or by halving, twisting, and removing the pit from each) and add to the bowl. Toss with the scallions, remaining lemon juice, and olive oil, then season to taste with salt and pepper to taste. 

Spread the yogurt mixture onto the base of a serving platter or shallow bowl. Spoon the beet mixture over the yogurt, topped with mint leaves if using and an extra drizzle of oil. This is very good scooped up with toast or pita, but I ate it for lunch earlier this week with a half a can of chickpeas and spoon—no complaints.