Roasted Carrots with Leeks, Garlic and Lemongrass
Lemongrass has a subtle flavor that complements many vegetables, especially sweet roasty roots. Its citrusy and slightly gingery (but without the heat) flavor pairs nicely with parsnips, beets, rutabaga and carrots. Ginger glazed roast carrots are a holiday table staple in a lot of homes, but by swapping in minced garlic and lemongrass plus crispy leek slices, you get a dish that hits more than one sweet note.
Roasted Carrots with Leeks, Garlic and Lemongrass
1 lb carrots, cut in half lengthwise
4 oz leeks, cleaned and sliced thinly (darker green parts are fine here)
1 Tbsp olive, pumpkin seed, sunflower or sesame oil
1 Tbsp honey (optional, if your carrots aren’t as sweet as you’d like)
1 ½ Tbsp minced garlic cloves (from about 2 very large or 3 medium cloves)
1 Tbsp minced lemongrass (from the peeled bases of 3-4 fat stalks)
BIg pinch salt
Preheat oven to 400. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss to fully incorporate, then place on a lined baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes. Stir and roast for another 10. Honey will foam and many of the leeks and the pointy ends of the carrots will become crispy. Serve with chopped cilantro or parsley and an optional sprinkle of toasted sesame or sunflower seeds or chopped toasted nuts.
You could swap in any of the above mentioned roots for carrots here, though beets may take a little longer to roast. And lemongrass isn’t just for veggies, the fleshy lower stalk once peeled and minced is fantastic in marinades for chicken, pork, beef or tofu, in compound butter for dipping lobster and drizzling on fish and crab, in mignonette for oysters, or creamed into pound cake or shortbread batter. Don’t toss the grassy tops, they can be dried and used to infuse tea, ice cream or creme brulee base, stock, chowder or soups.
Beet Gingerbread
Any color beet will work in this super moist gingerbread, though the beet flavor will be more prominent the darker the beet.
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
½ c neutral oil
⅔ cup sugar
2 Tbsp molasses
¼ cup buttermilk
1 ½ cup peeled, grated beet (5 oz)
½ cup chopped candied ginger
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Combine flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, whisk until well blended and set aside. In a stand mixer or with a hand held mixer, whip the eggs until very fluffy (about 2 minutes), then lower speed and drizzle in the oil, then the sugar. Whisk molasses into buttermilk and drizzle in. Once fully combined, add the flour mixture all at once and mix on low for about 30 seconds to combine. Finish folding in beets and ginger by hand. Pour into prepared pan and bake, turning in the oven after 40 minutes, for 60-75 minutes total, until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes, then run a thin blade around the edge of the cake and invert on cooling rack. Flip right side up to continue cooling. To glaze, mix about ½ cup powdered sugar with a splash of buttermilk, whisking until smooth. Add buttermilk in tiny amounts until about the consistency of white glue, then pour on the slightly still warm cake and allow to finish cooling.
2 Mache and Beet Salads
Mache is most popular in Europe, where it’s commonly served in salads with beets. We have a glorious crop of three colors of beets this year, and between these two salads you can try them all! While not local, we are at the height of citrus season right now, and it never hurts to get a little extra vitamin C in over the winter. Even better, you can make a tasty vinaigrette that works equally as well in both salads.
Salad #1:
1 orange (navel, cara cara or blood) or tangerine
2 Tbsp cider vinegar (if you happen to infuse vinegars with garden herbs, this is a great way to use it)
6 Tbsp oil (something mild like sunflower)
2 Tbsp honey (slightly warmed if very thick)
1 tsp salt
2 ½ tsp stone ground or dijon mustard
Zest and juice the orange and measure out ¼ cup. Combine the zest, juice and the rest of the ingredients in a pint jar, screw the lid on tightly and shake vigorously. Makes about 1 cup.
A traditional French way to serve mache is in a Salade Lorette, which involves roasted beets, julienned celery and a traditional vinaigrette. Raw chioggia and gold beets are a fast, crunchy and much less messy alternative to roasted red ones, and raw celeriac hits the slightly bitter celery notes while also being deceptively sweet.
Salad #2, Salade Lorette (serves two):
¼ lb mache, thoroughly rinsed and spun dry, any extra large rosettes cut in half
1 each small celeriac, chioggia beet and gold beet, washed, peeled and either julienned or coarsely grated
Citrus vinaigrette, to taste
Toss all ingredients to coat well and serve immediately.
Fried Daikon Cakes
Daikon radish is a funky vegetable, and while it makes excellent pickles, it’s fun to figure out what else can be done with the big, colorful roots we harvest every fall. Shredding them and giving them a hash brown-esque treatment is a fun way to eat through an otherwise intimidatingly large radish. Speaking of funky, don’t worry about the smell of the grated radish, as the salting step will not only draw out excess moisture but also tame that brassica funk. These are great served with teriyaki, plum sauce, hoisin, tamarind, or any other sweet or sweet and sour sauce, though they’d be just as tasty alongside sour cream and applesauce, as a stand in for potato latkes.
1 ½ cup grated green or purple daikon (about 8 oz)
2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chopped onion, leek or scallion
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp sriracha or other garlicky chili sauce, or sweet chili sauce
½ cup panko or other plain breadcrumbs
1 extra large or two small eggs, beaten
Combine daikon and salt in a medium bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes has elapsed, rinse and squeeze excess moisture from daikon, then add garlic, onion, pepper, paprika and chili sauce and mix to thoroughly combine. Add breadcrumbs and mix to combine. Add half the egg and thoroughly mix, gradually add enough for batter to just hold together. Add just enough neutral, high smoke point oil to cover the bottom of a heavy skillet, and heat over medium heat until a drop of water flicked into it sputters. Form the batter into eight patties (a little less than ½ cup each) and fry, four at a time, in oil for 2-3 minutes on each side, until browned and firm throughout (check each side of the cakes at 2 minutes and turn the heat down slightly if they are browning too quickly). Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to drain once cooked.
Black Radish Soup
Few crops stump people quite like the black Spanish radish, the spiciest of our winter radish offerings. Tasting like a horseradish root at half volume (it’s sometimes referred to as “Parisian horseradish”) and hardy and crisp enough to stay fresh for months in cold storage, it’s been adding a kick to cold season dishes across Europe since at least the 1500s. Cooking the radishes tames their bite, and with little more than a potato and other pantry ingredients you can make them into a fabulous creamy soup that tastes like mashed potatoes with a little extra dimension. Feel free to dress the soup up with more toppings like crumbled bacon, sour cream or crispy fried shallot or garlic, but a pat of good butter and a little grated raw radish is all it really needs.
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for garnish
1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 medium black radishes, peeled (about 1 lb), plus more for garnish, unpeeled
1 medium russet potato, peeled (about 8 oz)
¼ tsp salt, plus more to taste
⅛ tsp fresh ground pepper (white, if available)
3 ½ cups water
1 Tbsp prepared horseradish sauce
Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, and sauté 5 minutes, or until soft and translucent. Add garlic and continue cooking for another minute. Meanwhile, chop radish into ½” pieces and potato into 1” pieces.
Add the radishes, potato, salt, pepper, and 3 1/2 cups water. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 30 minutes, until radish and potato are both easily pierced with a fork.
Remove soup from heat, stir in horseradish, and purée in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Add up to 1 tsp salt, gradually, tasting often, to tame any bitterness. Serve topped with grated radish and a pat of butter, and maybe a cheesy soft pretzel on the side. Makes about 6 cups.