Beet, Greens and Cheddar Crumble Recipe (2024)

Well it's yummy, but I don't often prepare an entree with 11 tablespoons of butter, 2 cheeses, and milk. In order to help justify all that fat I cooked 1/2 cup of farro and layered it in with the beets and greens. Nice textural contrast.

In an uncharacteristic move, I followed this recipe to the letter. Like other readers, I wondered about all that butter and cheese, the overpowering taste of beets, and the time commitment and mess. Mostly, though, I thought the recipe sounded strange. This dish is so unusually satisfying and delicious. What once seemed weird now seems a logical European dish. All the staples are there: greens, roots, butter, cheese, herbs, and grains. It was worth every effort.

I made this for the first time since last winter, and forgot that I have not been able to get more than 2 layers out of 1 lb of beets - you need about 1 medium beet per layer, so more like 1.5-2 lbs of beets, then it's not too saucy or overpowering.

This is a lot of (extremely colorful) work, but quite good. I used a mix of beet greens and swiss chard, and a super-sharp Canadian cheddar. Next time I might mandoline the beets.

FYI, 75 g = 1/3 cup

I love this recipe and have made it several times, both as written and with variations. The crumble and English mustard make it for me. I prefer to use golden beets, because they don't bleed, and I like the color with the cheddar. I've used only the beet greens (far less than the amount called for), and no greens at all, and it was still good, although I prefer to use some if I have them. Inspired by the comment about mac and cheese, I made a version with pasta and additional sauce.

This has WAY, WAY too much flour. The sauce was thick and gluey. Don't know why I trusted the amounts. Both the crumble on top AND the sauce had fully twice as much flour as they should have.

This was good, but if I were to make it again, I would use half the sauce. I felt it overpowered the beets and beet greens. The flavours are delicious, just a little off balance.

The taste of beets is masked by the rich sauce. If you like beets, this recipe is will disappoint. Make mac and cheese instead with roasted beets on the side.

agreed: a lot of work, but delicious results. i cut back a bit on the butter and cheese; as such my bechamel was too thick but still worked. i used the greens i had on hand: cress and shoots (didn't boil as them long: dropped them into hot water and then drained). here's what i love about this recipe: i don't love sweet vegetables/dishes, so i love all the savory ingredients (sharp cheddar, mustard, worchestershire, and plenty of salt) that counterbalance the beet's sweetness

So delicious! I roasted the beets with olive oil/salt/thyme. Instead of blanching, I sauteed a bunch of collard greens with half an onion, a few cloves of garlic, then added the beet greens to the mixture. Used walnuts instead of hazelnuts (it was all I had!). Finally, for my kids, I skimped a little on the mustard powder and nixed the hot sauce. Served it over whole wheat spaghetti, along with some garlic bread. A huge hit!

I agree about the superior taste of roasted beets. There is an almost magical, and extremely convenient, result.
I wrap them up tightly in several layers of aluminum foil - unfortunately you give up caramelization this way, but what happens, if you leave them in the foil, and keep them in the fridge, is that they last for weeks, with the flavor still great, and when you do take the foil off to use them, but not the whole beet, wrap it back up, and it will be fine for maybe 2 more weeks. Amazing!

I honestly thought the flavors clashed a bit. The beets don't really go with the béchamel sauce, and for the calories and time it took to prepare this I would skip it.

We follow a Mediterranean diet, so I cut out the Bechamel entirely and substituted a sauce made with 5 Tbsp olive oil, 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard, mixed herbs, the cheese, some black garlic and urfa pepper, and a teaspoon of Sriracha and the wostershire sauce. Very tasty and way healthier

If you’re going to try this for the first time, I really recommend reviewing the highlighted notes. I read the recipe and then reviewed the most remarked upon notes, and I found them tremendously helpful. I thought this was a very good dish, as many people have said, definitely not a weeknight meal. I took the comments about the richness of the dish and cut down a bit on both the roux\butteramounts, and simplified the crumble. Turned out really well.

Surprisingly fabulous dish. Takes a while to make but the result is worth the effort.

Kinda like vegetarian moussaka with beets.5 tbsp butter = 75g6 tbsp butter = 85g

This is indeed a tasty and satisfying dish. I heeded the warning in an earlier comment and used more beets to yield more than one layer of beets. I used 2 pounds of beets (net). Net meaning the weight after trimming the ends of.

I had an abundance of beets from my CSA share and, not being a fan of beets but also being averse to wasting food, decided to try this. Sadly it still does not disguise the taste of beets. The crumble top is excellent, as is the béchamel, but the beet flavor still comes through. So for me it was a miss as I hoped for something heavier to disguise that taste but all other parts were quite tasty. I think it would be delicious with other roasted root vegetables.

Excellent dish, I made it last night. I read the notes about roasting vs boiling the beets and opted to do them boiled, as written, and they came out great. The only thing I changed was the topping. I just topped the final layer of bechamel with grated cheddar, breadcrumbs, and parmesan, and it was amazing. The English mustard powder is essential, and is what makes this recipe pop.

Sadly, they still taste like beets. But it is a pretty dish. I did have to thin the béchamel a bit, but it was the right quantity.

Have seen this recipe a couple of times searching for good recipes to use up greens like beet greens, chard, or dandelion greens. Finally tried it out and had a great time cooking it. The dish turned out to be delicious and since I'm a savory breakfast sort of person, I am having it in the morning for breakfast.The béchamel sauce is veryyy rich. I may have added too much cheddar but if I were to cook this again, I would more frequently taste the sauce. Fun recipe!

I have a moral aversion to boiled beets so like other commenters, I chose to roast my beets. I peeled and chopped my two extra large beets into 1/4" slices, and roasted them for about 45 minutes with the thyme, pepper, and garlic. I probably used 2 pounds of beets instead of 1 in the recipe. I thought it came out great! Especially with the added beets, I thought the bechamel was not too overpowering, and the nutmeg in the crumble was lovely.

To Faye (the first comment): Your suggestion might be helpful if I knew what the term "mise" meant!! I'm a senior... I cook a lot...I read cookbooks and recipes... and I have never come across that term before.

This was helpful as a way of getting rid of a lot of golden beets and their greens, but disappointing and not worth the effort. Bland, way too fatty, fat has nothing to soak into as in Mac and cheese so it’s just too evident (melted cheese, walnuts), sharpness of cheddar does not come through. Kid had cognitive crumble (dessert) dissonance. Leftovers were better with feta next day. Better to make a beet/beet greens/walnut salad with good red wine vinegar and strong salty cheese and good bread.

Maybe if I had roasted the beets it would have turned out better...but the biggest problem was the whole thing turned out a nauseating bright, neon pink. Obviously based on the picture that recipe used yellow or possibly orange coloured beets and I used traditional red.Uck!

This is fiddly to make, but oh wow is it worth it. Delicious.

Absolutely delicious. We used beets we grew in our garden, which made it extra special. Took some time for sure, but it makes a good amount and there are just two of us so good leftovers. Just wonderful. Will try and play with the concept using other vegetables and cheeses perhaps.