Let’s Hear it for Root Vegetables!

We’ve had the chance to get an assortment of root vegetables over the last few pickups of the 2013 season—beets, turnips, radishes, carrots, and some potatoes and onions there at the end. Root vegetables are delicious, nutritious, and very versatile. In fact, you may not realize how versatile they are, so here are some ideas.

Roast your beets and then dice them and freeze them to add to salads at the holidays. Such pretty color, and they are tasty, too. Scrub ’em, put them in a baking pan with a little water (about a quarter cup), cover with foil, and roast for 45 minutes. Then let them cool, peel them, and dice or slice them. Freeze them in small amounts in freezer bags.

Use turnips and potatoes along with some greens to make colcannon or champ. I made a delicious batch of this Irish specialty on Halloween—or Samhain—the traditional day to eat colcannon for luck (it was the old Druid new year’s celebration). Peel the potatoes and turnips and cut into quarters; put them in a pot of water and bring to a boil, then boil until tender, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, clean and devein some greens—chard, spinach, kale, cabbage, whatever you have—and chop into small pieces. You can throw the greens in with the potatoes and turnips for the last 10 minutes or so, then drain everything well. Add a little milk and a little butter and whip with a mixer until you have a fluffy light green concoction. Put it in a warm bowl and make a well in the middle to add more butter. Yummy!

Butter those radishes and eat them raw. It’s an English way to eat them, and especially if they are hot, the butter tempers the heat a bit. A great snack!

Make carrot soup. It’s tasty and it just looks like fall, that lovely orange color. There’s a great recipe for carrot soup in a previous blog. (And as a root vegetable bonus, the recipe can be adapted to make beet soup, too!

And, one more idea—take some carrots, onions, and turnips, and maybe some potatoes, too. Peel them and cook them a little; steam the carrots and turnips, boil the potatoes, sauté the onions. Then put them in ovenproof bowls, add some cooked chicken, pour on some gravy, and mix up some bisquick and make a top crust. Voila, a rich and delicious homemade chicken pot pie just bursting with root vegetable goodness!

What are you doing with your root vegetables?