Recipes
If you don’t have any sage in your garden pick up a bunch at a market if you want to make the parsnip and kale “galette” which is very good. And pick up some walnuts, you’ll need those for several recipes and some parsley. My parsley crop is still going strong and I find I use it even more this time of year to balance the richness and sweetness of the winter vegetables.
Carrot Puree with Dukkah
Maple-glazed Acorn Squash Slices
Parsnip Galette with Greens
Parsnip Purée
Carrot and Parsnip Hash with Parsley
Grated Beets Many Ways
Marinated Lentils with Roasted Beets Walnuts and Orange Vinaigrette
Carrot Puree with Dukkah
–adapted from Ana Sortun’s Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean
This is good and the Dukkah (the spice and nut mixture below) is delicious sprinkled on most anything—roasted vegetables, salads, grilled meats, you name it. And you know about harissa, the Morrocan spice paste I’ve used several times before, and how delicious it is.
The way to serve this is to take good bread or baguettes and dip or brush with olive oil, sprinkle with dukkah and spread with carrot puree. It could be part of a simple supper, lunch or a snack or a Thanksgiving appetizer.
2 pounds carrots, well scrubbed and cut into 2-inch lengths
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for dipping
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
5 teaspoons harissa (or much less depending on how spicy your version is—they vary widely so taste first or just add a teaspoon or two at a time and taste again0
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Kosher Salt and pepper to taste
In a large saucepan over high heat, cover the carrots with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the carrots and return them to the dry saucepan. Cook the carrots for 30 seconds or so over medium heat to dry them out. Remove the pan with the carrots from the heat and coarsely mash them with a fork or whisk. You want a coarsely ground carrot puree, not a smooth puree.
Stir in the olive oil, vinegar, harissa, cumin and ginger and then season the mixture with salt and pepper.
Dukkah
–adapted slightly from Ana Sortun’s Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean
This is a little bit of a project, timing the toasting of the spices and then letting them cool but it’s well worth it and it makes enough for several dishes/meals.
1/2 cup almonds
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a medium skillet over medium heat, toast the almonds until golden, about 4 minutes. Transfer the almonds to a work surface to cool, and then finely chop them.
Put the coriander and cumin seeds in the same skillet and toast, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer the seeds to a spice grinder and allow them to cool completely before coarsely grinding.
In a medium bowl, combine the almonds with the ground spices.
Put the sesame seeds in the same skillet and toast them over medium heat, stirring until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to the spice grinder.
Toast the coconut in the skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly until golden (be careful not to burn!), about 2 minutes. Add the toasted coconut to the grinder and let it cool completely.
Grind the sesame seeds and coconut to a coarse powder. Combine with the almond and spice mixture and season with salt and pepper.
Maple-glazed Acorn Squash Slices
Olive oil
2 acorn squashes (about 2 pounds each), halved, seeded, and sliced into 1-inch-thick crescents (no need to peel)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 – 1/2 cup maple syrup
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the squash crescents in a little olive oil until well-coated and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides.
Lay squash pieces on baking sheets. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle squashes evenly with half the maple syrup. Roast for 10 minutes and then flip the pieces over and drizzle with the remainder of the syrup. Roast until tender, about 20 minutes.
Parsnip Galette with Greens
–adapted from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison
Parsnips are so sweet and are balanced here by the greens, walnuts and sage. This is really like a large crispy pancake and is fantastic both as a side or a main.
¾ pound parsnips, scrubbed and grated on the large holes of a box grater or in the food processor (about 3 cups)
4 cups well washed, very thinly sliced kale
2-3 eggs
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped sage or oregano
½ cup finely chopped walnuts (optional but very good)
Oil for pan-frying
Cook the greens in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain, squeeze out as much liquid as you can and chop finely.
In a large bowl beet the eggs with the flour salt and pepper. Add the grated parsnips and the greens and mix well.
In a skillet heat the butter or oil and add the sage and walnuts. (If you don’t have sage and are using oregano, add the chopped oregano to the batter and don’t toast it with the nuts.) Cook the nuts and sage, stirring frequently until the nuts smell toasty, just a few minutes. Add the contents of the skillet to the parsnip mixture.
Add a bit more oil to the skillet. Now you can either cook two smaller galettes, one at a time or try to do it all in one, huge one. The big one is fun but hard to flip and keep intact. Whichever way you choose, add the parsnip mixture the pan and flatten it out a bit with the back of a spatula. Cook over medium-high heat for about five minutes until golden and crisp. Flip and do the same on the other side. Repeat if you’re doing it in two batches.
Parsnip Purée
–from Tender by Nigel Slater
Peel, roughly chop and boil parsnips. When they are tender, process in food processor until smooth. Put into bowl and beat in enough butter and crème fraiche (or whipping cream or sour cream or Greek yogurt) to achieve a consistency you like. Season with salt, pepper and little Dijon-style mustard. Perfect with braised, garlicky kale and/or any roasted meat.
Carrot and Parsnip Hash
Grate on large holes of a box grater or cut carrots and parsnips into small dice (1/2-inch or so). If you’re not grating, you can also just aim for small chunks more or less that size since dicing can be kind of a pain.
Dice a couple of slices of bacon (optional) and half an onion in a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Sauté the bacon and onion in a large skillet. Add the root veggies after about five minutes and several generous pinches of salt. Stir well to coat and cook over medium/high heat, turning frequently until cooked and evenly browned. This shouldn’t take more than about 10 minutes.
Top with a fried or poached egg or a generous sprinkling of parsley and drizzle of balsamic or sherry vinegar or good squeeze of lemon juice. The veggies are so sweet that you want to off set that with the fresh herbs and acidity.
Grated Beets in Salads and other Dishes
My favorite thing to do with beets right now is to grate them raw and then marinate them in a dressing of minced and mashed garlic, lemon juice, salt and olive oil. All they need is a 20-minute soak, but longer is fine too. Then you can toss a cup of them into any green salad, add a bit of crumbled feta and maybe a few handfuls of toasted, coarse breadcrumbs and you have the perfect winter/spring salad.
You can mix them with grated carrots and marinate the whole thing and then stir in lots of parsley leaves for a wonderfully refreshing side/salad.
You can mix the grated marinated beets into Greek yogurt for sort of (very pink) beat tzatziki and serve that with lamb burgers or dolloped on plain, cooked chickpeas.
Marinated Lentils with Roasted Beets Walnuts and Orange Vinaigrette
–inspired by Bean by Bean by Crescent Dragonwagon
4 beets, roasted cooled and sliced into ¼-inch rounds (roast at 375 – 400 tightly covered with a splash of water until tender)
2 cups French green lentils (or other smaller variety that holds its shape well)
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick (if you don’t have one don’t let that stop you and just skip it)
2 quarts veg or chicken stock or water
½ a small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 recipe orange vinaigrette (see below)
½ cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
Combine lentils, garlic, cinnamon stick, and stock or water and bring to a simmer and cook for 30- 40 minutes until tender but still holding their shape. Drain the lentils (reserving liquid for a soup if you want) and discard bay, cinnamon stick and garlic cloves. Put lentils in a bowl and cool to room temp.
Toss lentils with red onion and about two thirds of the dressing. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Toss beat slices with remainder of vinaigrette.
Serve beets on lentils and topped with the toasted walnuts.
Orange Vinaigrette
Juice and grated zest of 1 orange
1/3 cup good olive oil
2 tablespoons red vinegar
1 clove garlic minced or mashed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
Combine all ingredients in a small jar with a lid and shake well. Keeps well for a week or a bit more.