sapotelunch

What I cooked: Roasted Beets and Red Onion with Balsamic Vinegar and Rosemary, from Pasta e Verdura: 140 Vegetable Sauces for Spaghetti, Fusilli, Rigatoni, and All Other Noodles.

How much it cost: Beets were a surprising $4.50 (organic); also bought balsamic vinegar at cheapskate $3, pasta at $2. Since those are pantry staples, let's call this $6 for 4 servings, rounding out at about $1.50 a serving.

How it worked: This is the first time I've ever oven-roasted beets en papillote - the recipe said to wrap them in tinfoil, which I try not to use, but the principle is the same - and it actually worked really well. I baked them at 400 for an hour - along with the recommended onion and some squash I was planning to make into soup later - while I ate dinner and played some card games with roommates, and then I let them cool and used paper towels to rub the skins off. Slicing and putting the sauce together after that took maybe six minutes. This is a well-timed recipe for an afternoon where you're putzing around the house but aren't making a full-on attack on your kitchen.

Taste: I was dubious at first because the beets were softer than I tend to eat them - I tend to like some crunch - but it actually worked really well with the pasta texture. While the sauce was definitely best fresh off the stove, I had already dined and put it in the fridge overnight, and it's very nice this morning. Balsamic vinegar is one of the things I usually use to dress up substandard beets, but on nice beets it's - well - nicer. I was surprised, with the rosemary and onion, how pasta-y this pasta sauce tasted. I was expecting it to come off far weirder. A+ beet recipe, would cook again.

Storage: Did well in the fridge overnight (pasta cooked separately later). Will wrap up some portions and freeze them and report back after a week.

Lunchbox worthiness: Packing today, will report back.