Simple side dish: Sautéed beets with fennel and lemon

With just five ingredients and one-skillet prep, this is a truly simple recipe that’s perfect for a lazy summer day. I could keep going on about uncomplicated this recipe is, and how the combination of two sweet vegetables with the sour bite of lemon appeals to our most basic, primordial tastes — but that verbal frippery would be totally incongruous with the recipe, wouldn’t it?

So without further ado:

Ingredients

• 1 large beet, peeled
• 1/2- to 1-inch slice of fennel bulb
• 1/2-to 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or unsweetened red currant juice (if you’re in the northern temperate zone and want to make the recipe even more seasonal)
• salt to taste

Instructions

1. Chop beet and fennel into matchsticks.
2. Warm oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add fennel and sauté for a few minutes, until fennel starts to soften.
3. Add beets. Lower heat and cover, lifting the lid every few minutes to give the veggies a stir. Cook for 10-20 minutes until beets are tender. Add a tablespoon or so of water if beets start to stick to the bottom of the pan.
4. Sprinkle with lemon or red currant juice and salt (optional).
5. Serve.