Roots glorious roots

OK my title is ironic. I class myself as a vegetable lover, but root veg are firmly at the bottom of my favourites list. Especially carrots, beetroot and jerusalem artichokes. Last week, my veg box contained no fewer than 17 carrots, some hefty beetroot, and a load of jerusalem artichokes as a bonus.

Amazingly, none of it went in the food waste. Here’s how.

Delia’s slow roast root veg soup

I’d made this before, following the original recipe and it was fab (and I am not a huge soup fan). Instead, I used:

  • 225g each of carrots, beetroot, jerusalem artichokes and leeks
  • 1 onion
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1.5l veg stock
  • salt and pepper

Peel the veg and cut into 2cm chunks. Chop the onion. Put all ingredients in a big pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Put the lid on and cook in the oven for 3 hours at 140 degrees C. Liquidise and serve.

I added halloumi croutons and a herb oil as suggested in a different recipe by Melissa Helmsley. It was quite a colour but absolutely delicious! The smoky artichokes pair really well with the sweeter carrots and beetroot.

Hash and mash

I find the texture of jerusalem artichokes a bit weird (squidgy!!), so mashing them seemed like a good idea. Firstly, I made this potato, carrot and artichoke hash which basically involved boiling up the root veg plus a chopped onion, mashing it all, putting it in a dish, topping with butter/marg, and cooking it in the oven. It was delicious. And would be even better with cheese.

Buoyed up by that success and in the mood for comfort food, when I made a veggie shepherd’s pie I used a mix of potato, carrot, beetroot and artichoke in my mash. It was FAB but again, probably not a colour you’d find in a restaurant!

Crisps

Inspired by my friends Food for Daise on good old insta, who really hate wasting stuff, I decided not to just chuck all my peelings away for the first time ever. You do need to remember to wash your veg before peeling them, however! I used carrot, beetroot and artichoke peelings, tossed them in a small amount of oil, and added plenty of salt. I roasted them at 180 degrees until crispy. Given the rate at which they were devoured, I would say these were a success! You could also use whole veg instead of just the peel.

Roasting…with a Korean twist

While I’ve been known to proclaim that roasting is the solution to any type of vegetable mountain, I am a bit ‘meh’ about cooking beetroot and carrot this way because they still taste exactly like beetroot and carrot. But add a dash of the Korean wonder that is gochujang paste, and I’m sold! The original recipe is for carrots and cabbage, but I say save your cabbage and chuck the beetroot in instead, it’s yummy :)

Other bits

I’ve rambled on at length about pickles before so I won’t go into it again. Suffice to say we are currently pickling beetroot - they need a couple of weeks to reach their potential - and I pickle carrot ribbons most weeks. We tend to eat them out of the jar…..

Finally, although it pains me to be a middle-class unemployed cliche, I do make a lot of hummus, and it’s fab with the addition of some roasted beetroot :)

I was quite looking forward to the promised celeriac instead of beetroot this week, but alas the beets have arrived once again! Wish me luck.