Root Vegetables Rock!
Although root vegetables
figure prominently in home cooking, they’re often considered
not quite good enough for company. Raw or cooked, root vegetables
offer a world of taste. Discover a slew of cooking suggestions for
radishes, carrots, parsnips, beets, celeriac, turnips, storage tips
that will help you keep them up to 4 weeks in the fridge and
recipes that will convince your family that root vegetables
rock!- Red or pink, bigger radishes have more bite while the elongated radishes are milder than the round ones.
- Radishes make perfect crudités, alternate them with cubed goat’s cheese, cut-up cucumber and olives on tiny skewers.
- Whole, sliced, julienned or chopped, radishes add crunchy colour to dips, salads and sandwiches.
- Briefly cooked, radishes taste milder, somewhat like a turnip. They can be used in soups and omelettes or covered with cheese sauce and browned under the broiler.
- Radish roses can decorate salads and main courses. Make four cuts in the top of a radish down to the centre, score the outside of each quarter and soak the radish in lightly salted ice water for 30 minutes. The quarters will curl open.
- A well-known source of beta-carotene, colourful, sweet-tasting carrots are popular with kids and one of the most versatile vegetables, equally good in sweet or savoury dishes.
- Bake steamed carrots with cream, grated cheese and a pinch of nutmeg for a tasty au gratin dish or do them Moroccan-style with oranges, cumin and coriander or Chinese-style, sliced diagonally and cooked in chicken broth.
- Carrot-onion preserves flavoured with orange peel are delicious with pâté or cheese!
- Combine grated carrots with grated apples, dried fruit, fresh ginger, various nut oils and herbs.
- Although it's a classic, carrot cake isn't the only sweet thing carrots can be used for! Try carrot jam, carrot-orange salad with cinnamon, or a chilled drink of carrot juice, honey and coconut milk.
- Parsnips look like big creamy white carrots, resemble the turnip in texture and have a delicate nutty flavour. They are prepared just like carrots or turnips for which they can be substituted in most recipes.
- Great in soups and stews, parsnips are also tasty mashed, fried like potatoes or raw and dressed with vinegar in salads.
- Cleaned or peeled, parsnips can be prepared like carrots, but should be cooked immediately when cut or put in a bowl of water with vinegar or lemon added to prevent discoloration
- With their deep ruby-red colour, tender-crisp texture and mild sweet taste, beets are a natural for sweet and sour or salty-sweet dishes.
- Usually served pickled, beets can be prepared in many other ways to vary boring menus.
- Raw beets add colour to salads: lamb's lettuce, diced beets and grated celeriac or a Nordic salad of beets, apples, endive, herring and sour cream. Grated or julienned beets with orange dressing and coriander make a dramatic side dish.
- Cooked beets are tasty cold or hot. Mashed with pears or a bit of lemon juice and olive oil, beets steal the show as do beet-apple chutney or a beautiful borscht served with a dollop of yogurt and chives.
- For more intense flavour, bake beets wrapped in foil. Never peel beets before cooking or they will lose their bright colour. Cooked beets peel easily under cold running water.
- Popular in Europe, but pretty much unknown here, celeriac doesn't look like much, in fact it's downright ugly. Its flesh however is delightfully crisp, piquant and easy to prepare. Peel and rub with lemon to prevent discoloration.
- For a variation on the classic ">celeriac rémoulade, add some grated apple and chopped nuts.
- Cooked celeriac can be mashed with other vegetables (potatoes, carrots), grated Gruyère and milk or alone with a little nutmeg. It pairs beautifully with fish and veal and adds flavour to soups and stews.
- For an original new nosh or garnish, try celeriac chips. Simply peel, slice very thin or cut into matchsticks and fry a few minutes in oil.
- What we commonly call a turnip is actually a rutabaga. Real turnips are smaller with white flesh and edible greens. Stronger-tasting than turnips, rutabagas have yellow peel and flesh.
- Turnips and rutabagas can be used interchangeably in most recipes. Raw or cooked, they can be prepared in numerous ways!
- Delicious mashed, in creamy soups and boiled dinners, turnips and rutabagas combine well with potatoes, carrots, leeks and cabbage.
- Alone steamed and dotted with parsley butter, braised with honey or maple syrup, scalloped or cooked then sweetened with a pinch of sugar to enhance their flavour, they make an appetizing accompaniment for meat and fish. For a tasty variation on potato latkes, fry patties of grated turnip or rutabaga in a little fat.
- Raw or blanched and cooled, they make a surprising addition to salads, unusual crudités or condiments, pickled Asian-style in vinegar with sugar!
- To keep root vegetables fresh and crisp, remove leaves (or tops) before storing. These greens draw the moisture and vitamins out of the root.
- Radishes keep one week unwashed, in the fridge in a plastic vegetable bag and the other root vegetables keep up to four weeks.
- To glaze carrots, turnips or parsnips, cook them uncovered over low heat in a little water with a bit of butter, a pinch of salt and about 1 tablespoon (15 mL) sugar until all liquid has evaporated. The vegetables will be covered with a smooth, glossy coat.
- Carrot, radish, beet and turnip tops (fresh greens) can be used like spinach in soups or purées.
- For a sensational look, surround a dish with a bright circle of clove-scented beet or carrot coulis.
- Fresh herbs like chives, basil, parsley, coriander or tarragon give root vegetables a special cachet.