Recipes from the root cellar: 270 fresh ways to enjoy winter vegetables

471 Pages·2010·2.89 MB·English

by  Andrea Chesman

Recipes from the Root Cellar
RECIPES From the ROOT CELLAR
250 Fresh Ways to Enjoy Winter Vegetables
Andrea Chesman
To the farmers who keep us well stocked with wonderful vegetables all through
the year.
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Edited by Margaret Sutherland and Nancy Ringer
Art direction and book design by Mary Winkelman Velgos
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and Jennifer Jepson Smith
Illustration by © Susy Pilgrim Waters
Indexed by the author
© 2010 by Andrea Chesman
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Chesman, Andrea.
Recipes from the root cellar / by Andrea Chesman.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60342-545-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Cookery, American. 2. Cookery (Vegetables) I. Title.
TX715.C52456 2010
641.5973—dc22
2010009608
Preface
1 An Introduction to Winter Vegetables
2 Salads and Pickled Vegetables
3 Soups
4 Simple Vegetable Dishes
5 Beans, Rice, and Grains
6 Vegetarian Main Dishes
7 Main Dishes with Fish and Seafood
8 Main Dishes with Poultry
9 Main Dishes with Meat
10 Baked Goods and Desserts
Appendixes
Index
Preface
It all started when I fell in love with salsify, a root vegetable that once
graced the tables of many a colonial American kitchen but has since fallen out of
favor. Salsify, also known as oyster plant, is said to taste a bit like oysters. Being
a major fan of oysters, I thought: What could be better than a root vegetable that
lasts and lasts in a root cellar and tastes like oysters even though it grew in my
landlocked garden?
I planted my first crop of salsify about 30 years ago. It is a stubborn vegetable
to grow. As it emerges from the soil, it looks a lot like grass, so it is easy to weed
away the entire crop. And so went the first harvest. After learning from that
mistake, I planted again, only to be defeated by clay soil. Salsify likes a deep,
loose loam and will produce only the skinniest, gnarliest, and most miserable
roots if it isn’t given the loose soil it likes. A vigorous and early thinning also is
absolutely necessary to give the roots sufficient space. Did I mention that this
plant is fussy about its growing conditions?
But the flavor! Even a meager harvest is worth the labor. Sautéed in butter,
salsify has none of the cabbagey nuance of turnips and rutabagas, nor the
(sometimes) overwhelming sweetness of carrots and beets. It tastes like, well, a
cross between globe artichokes and Jerusalem artichokes. I think it is a terrific
vegetable, but so demanding of my care as a gardener that I decided to form an
organization called the National Association of Growers of Salsify (NAGS). As
the founder of NAGS, my mission was to try and convince vegetable growers to
tackle this challenging vegetable.
I wrote an open letter to the newsletter of the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-
op, where I shop, entreating members to join NAGS. I promised no dues, no
meetings, no t-shirts, no newsletter, no tote bags — just the satisfaction of
promoting the spread of this worthy vegetable.
Have you even ever heard of salsify? No? Well, then you know how
successful NAGS has been.…
By now most adventurous eaters have tasted their way around the globe. On
demand, our supermarkets have stocked exotic fruits and vegetables from all
over the planet, and the distinct flavors of Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Italy
have profoundly changed the way we cook. We have dined on asparagus in
January and come to regard the tomato as a year-round vegetable instead of the
seasonal treat it truly is.
“Eat locally, spice globally” are the watchwords that have recently begun to
inform tables across America. Best-selling works by Michael Pollen (The
Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Barbara Kingsolver (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)
have strongly influenced people to think about the choices they make when
shopping for food and to buy locally grown foods that have not been shipped
over long distances, accumulating many “food miles.” This in turn means
eating seasonal foods, at their peak, and fits in nicely with a growing aesthetic
that celebrates fresh foods in their seasons. Eating locally means continuing
the practice of enjoying the flavors of all the great cuisines of the world, while
focusing the bulk of our choices on the foods that grow close to home.
The United States is blessed with a variety of different climates, but almost all
locales experience some sort of winter, when few, if any, crops can be grown.
Fortunately a variety of vegetables store well and can be enjoyed fresh instead of
frozen or canned. These include root vegetables, hard-shelled winter squashes,
and hardy greens that hold up well in the cold. Dried beans are another vegetable
that keeps through the winter; heart-healthy, full of fiber, inexpensive, easily
stored, and delicious, they make a lot of sense in the modern diet.
In recent years, I have grown to have a greater appreciation of turnips and
rutabagas. I have served Brussels sprouts to a friend who said it was the first
time she had enjoyed them, because I roasted them. I have made peace with
parsnips, particularly if they are roasted. Kale is such a favored vegetable in my
household that we actually miss it in the summer.
The hardy greens, winter squashes, and root vegetables have been largely
ignored in recent years as people have been tempted by the unfamiliar and
exotic. But a number of factors have converged to make eating long-keeping
winter vegetables a good choice. Between an awareness that processed and
exotic foods bring with them a significant carbon footprint and a shortfall in
many household economies in the grip of a global recession, eating more humble
vegetables makes sense. A lot of sense.
It is time for a rediscovery and celebration of the humble vegetables that have
sustained so many people for so long before the advent of transcontinental
shipping and overnight transoceanic flights. And if this includes a rediscovery of
an unfamiliar root vegetable like salsify, then so much the better.
Eat More Vegetables
While dietary wisdom changes seasonally, the one piece of advice that never
alters is “eat more vegetables.” It turns out that a diet filled with winter
vegetables isn’t boring at all. The variety of dishes one can enjoy is infinite, and
this collection of more than 250 recipes is only a beginning.
One theme that emerged in my experiments with using only winter vegetables
in the winter is that favorite dishes are easily adapted. We love California nori
rolls, a vegetarian sushi roll usually made with avocado, carrot, and scallions.
Well, my experiments revealed that nori rolls made with carrots, turnips, and red
cabbage are even more beautiful to behold and equally tasty. Love New England
clam chowder? Try a scallop-and-salsify chowder. Love beef stew? Choose roots
for the vegetables. This isn’t about applying some abstract “locavore” discipline.
This is just good eating.
Many people think that salads start with lettuce. And in the summer, this is
often true in my house. For winter salads, napa cabbage, the tenderest of the
cabbages, does nicely as a substitute for lettuce and other greens. Belgian endive
is also a fine “green.” We are all familiar with shredded-carrot salads. It turns out
that shredded beets and turnips also make interesting salads. Shredding is a
wonderful way to tame a winter vegetable; the act of shredding transforms a
tough root or cabbage into a tender mouthful. There is no limit to the number of
salads you can enjoy in the winter, without lettuce and without tomatoes.
Time for Experimenting and Slow Cooking
I think of summer as time for salad suppers, quick sautés and stirfries, and
grazing meals of fresh-picked corn, sliced tomatoes, and other raw vegetables,
perhaps accompanied by breads and cheeses. Winter meals, on the other hand,
are often slow-simmered soups and stews, braised meats, and bean pots. It
doesn’t seem unreasonable to tackle a new recipe or cooking technique, or to put
something in the oven that will cook for hours. The extra heat provided by the
active oven is welcome in the winter kitchen.
Slow cooking is sometimes needed to bring out the best in winter vegetables.
Winter squashes, potatoes, and rutabagas aren’t really edible raw. Turnips
harvested young are delicious sliced raw and added to a salad instead of
radishes. Turnips pulled up from the root cellar may be bitter or starchy raw, but
delicious cooked. Likewise, a freshly harvested carrot is so sweet and juicy it is a
shame to cook it. By late winter, however, much of the sugar has been converted
to starch, and carrots may taste best cooked.
But don’t avoid winter vegetables because they seem too time-consuming to
prepare. Shredded root vegetables and winter squash, as well as hearty greens,
cook quickly and are terrific in sautés and stirfries. That’s where some of the
experimentation comes in. Trying out new flavorings and sauces keeps the
sautés and stirfries fresh tasting and interesting.
About the Recipes
I try to use what is known as “market measures” in my recipes. I don’t call for
“2 cups shredded carrots” when I can avoid it. Instead I call for “2 carrots,
shredded.” I don’t want you stuck with half of a peeled carrot. (Okay, the peeled
carrot will get eaten pretty quickly if left on the cutting board, but half of a
celery root is just going to sit there.) You can figure that I am talking about an
average-size carrot, so if you have only tiny carrots, use two or three. If you have
only large carrots, don’t hesitate to use the whole thing. If it makes a difference,
I will let you know.
The same goes for shallots. Have you noticed how variable the size of a
shallot has become? When I first started cooking, I found shallots sold as two
small bulbs to a pack in the supermarket. Now I buy shallots at a natural foods
store, and they are usually quite large and often contain two or more small bulbs
within one skin. Don’t fret about sizes. Just use whatever comes to hand — the
recipe will work out regardless.
Market measures for greens are a little tricky. I have found that a “bunch” of
kale from the farmers’ market in the fall is more generous than a bunch of kale at
a store later in the season. I could call for a certain number of stems, but the
outer stems may contain double the volume of leaves of an inner stem, and a
slightly wilted stem has less volume than a freshly harvested stem. In many
recipes you can use the entire bunch, regardless of the measure called for in the
recipe, but greens require a lot of space, and the volume of the entire bunch may
be more than your pot can hold with the other ingredients. Where it matters, I
have called for a cup measure. If you should harvest too much of a green, or
even strip too many leaves off the stems, keep the extra greens in a well-sealed
bag for a few days in the refrigerator. They should survive nicely. When you
measure the greens, lightly pack them into the measuring cup.
Canned Tomatoes
Canned tomatoes are an integral part of the winter kitchen. It’s no
surprise that people can more tomatoes than any other vegetable. Tomatoes
and tomato products can be processed safely in a boiling-water bath, while
other vegetables require a pressure canner. Some years I can, but other