Roasted Beets

As an adult I love beets for the same reason I hated them as a child: they taste like dirt. Now I see that as a positive; their full earthiness reminds me of the smell of rainwater on a forest floor, sweet and mossy as well as dark and minerally. The great thing about roasted beets, simply flavored with a few thyme leaves, is that they’re almost impossible to overcook. Their flavor just intensifies the longer you leave them in the oven.