Oven-Roasted Beets / Fırında Pancar

Writer's Note: Today I walked into my kitchen and turned around in circles in despair. The fridge is full of food, cooked and uncooked, and I just hung my head. Le sigh. And then I spotted the beets. Two, huge brilliant beets. Right. I'm going to roast some beets. I have never seen roasted beets in Turkey but I figure a few Turkish spices and I can throw them under imaginative Turkish cuisine. Better than throwing myself under a bus.

Ingredients:

2 large or 3 medium beets

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Urfa pepper

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

2 tbsp. pomegranate molasses

juice from half a lemon

Directions: Preheat oven to 4o0 degrees. Peel the beets and cut them into large chunks -- 1/8 chunks for large beets. Mix with the other ingredients. Cover a baking pan with a large piece of aluminum foil and lay beets in the middle. Fold over the edges and scrunch over the beets. A small opening in the top is ok. Roast for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with the bubbling sauce spooned over the beets. Eat to dispel morosity.