Grow­ing up, I nev­er liked tzimmes, the tra­di­tion­al Ashke­nazi stew that is usu­al­ly made from car­rots and dried fruits (like prunes or raisins) often com­bined with oth­er sweet root veg­eta­bles like yams. It was just too sweet for me. Some cooks com­bined the car­rot tzimmes with savory ele­ments like beef, but, in my view, that was just confusion.

I chose to go anoth­er way, one that’s more bal­anced among strong fla­vors than a dish of a sin­gle, notable sweet-sour fla­vor pro­file. I swapped the car­rots out for the deep fla­vor (and won­der­ful col­ors) of beets and delet­ed the dried fruits. Beets are still a sweet veg­etable but with more uma­mi, and I added a hit of acid­i­ty and spice from the clas­sic Mex­i­can chile-lime spice blend Tajin. Bal­sam­ic vine­gar com­pletes the picture.

The result­ing dish is a decon­struct­ed stew that is less saucy and more about the glo­ry of the beets. It may not look like tzimmes, but, frankly, that’s a good thing. Cook­ing the two col­ors of beets sep­a­rate­ly ensures the integri­ty of the col­ors of both in the final dish.

SPICED RED AND GOLD­EN BEET TZIMMES

Serves 4 to 6

For the Bal­sam­ic Vine­gar Reduction:

• 1 cup bal­sam­ic vinegar
• 1 table­spoon Tajin (or oth­er chile-lime-salt blend)
• 1 clove gar­lic, light­ly crushed

For the Red Beets:

• 1 pound red beets (about 4 medi­um beets), peeled
• 2 table­spoons brown sugar
• 2 table­spoons honey
• 3 table­spoons Tajin (or oth­er chile-lime-salt blend)
• 3 table­spoons grape­seed, canola, or anoth­er neu­tral oil
• 1 table­spoon bal­sam­ic vinegar

For the Gold­en Beets:

• 1 pound gold­en beets (about 4 medi­um beets), peeled
• 2 table­spoons brown sugar
• 2 table­spoons honey
• 3 table­spoons Tajin (or oth­er chile-lime-salt blend)
• 3 table­spoons grape­seed, canola, or anoth­er neu­tral oil

For the Gar­nish: Whole pars­ley leaves

TO MAKE THE BAL­SAM­IC VINE­GAR REDUC­TION: Put the vine­gar and Tajin in a small saucepan and whisk to com­bine. Add the gar­lic and cook over medi­um-low heat until the vine­gar has reduced until it coats the back of a spoon, about 7 to 10 min­utes. This can be made ahead and refriger-ated until ready to make the recipe.

TO MAKE THE BEETS: Add 2 cups water to each of two medi­um pots, one for each col­or beet. Quar­ter the beets length­wise, then cut each quar­ter in half and add them to each pot with the brown sug­ar, hon­ey, Tajin, and oil. To the red beets, add the 1 table­spoon vine­gar. Bring both just to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and sim­mer, stir­ring occa­sion­al­ly, until the beets are ten­der, about 1 hour. Dis­card any remain­ing liquid.

TO SERVE: Divide the red and yel­low beets as desired among plates, driz­zle with the bal­sam­ic vine­gar reduc­tion, and gar­nish with the parsley.

© Mod­ern Kosher by Michael Aaron Gar­diner, Riz­zoli New York, 2020. Pho­tog­ra­phy © Sam Wells. Select press images will be made avail­able, but no image may be used, in print or elec­tron­i­cal­ly, with­out writ­ten con­sent from the pub­lish­er. Ser­i­al rights are avail­able; please con­tact Ron Longe at (917) 312 – 5571or rlonge@​rizzoliusa.​com