Pan-Fried Beets (No need to pre-boil!)

(The picture doesn't express how good these were.  I haven't moved on to a bigger and better camera than my silly Kodak Easy Share.)

I really like roasted beets.  The grill, as well as the oven, really brings out the sweetness of beets.  So much so that they sometimes nearly taste like a good ear of sweet corn.  So good.  We grew up eating pickled beets that my mother made, as well as eating those that our grandmother made when we visited.  But boiled beets?  Blech!  Or so my childish taste buds thought.  Now I think those are great, too, with a gob of butter and salt & pepper.  But back to these fried beets...

Somewhere out there, in this great big blogosphere, I came across a recipe someone posted for what she called Caramelized Beets.  You know how you link from one blog to the next, to the next, to the next... (you get the picture)  Well, I didn't bookmark the page.  So whatever the recipe was, well, I figure I was close enough as it was simple, simple, simple.

Here is what I did:  I pulled about 6-8 medium to small fist-sized beets out of the garden, as it was the end of a row that needed to be finished off.  I trimmed the greens off out in the garden and turned them under into the dirt to compost.  Then I brought my beets in and gave them a good rinsing.  Then I peeled them.  Raw.  Just like you would peel a potato.  Gave them just a quick rinse again.  Then sliced them about 1/8"-1/4".  Set them aside.  Take out skillet (I used a #10 cast-iron pan), heat pan and lay out 3 or 4 strips of bacon.  Fry until crispy, remove bacon, but leave grease in pan.  Then lay in the beet slices in all that yummy bacon goodness.  Turn heat to medium-low and cover.  Let cook for about 15 minutes, then, using a spatula, flip them so they can cook evenly.  Crumble in the bacon that has cooled.  Let cook, covered, another 5-10 minutes or until tender.  That's it - they're done!  No need to salt as it's been done already by the bacon, though you may like to add a little black pepper.