Root Vegetables - Related Content

  
Ingredients:
1 pound yams (or sweet potatoes) – 2 small or one large, peeled
3/4 pound unpeeled red or Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed clean
1/2 pound beets (red or golden), trimmed and scrubbed clean
1/2 pound large carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
1 parsnip medium sized (4-5 oz), peeled and halved lengthwise
1/2 red onion, peeled
6 whole garlic cloves large sized
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 T fresh thyme leaves (or 2 tsp dried thyme)
5 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 3 tsp dried rosemary)
1 tsp ground cumin (can be omitted)
1 tsp kosher salt or more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper or more to taste

Notes:  Root vegetables have a sweet, earthy flavor that seems made for roasting.  Serve as a side dish or add leftover cooked chicken or garbanzo beans at the last 10 minutes of cooking to heal the protein through.  The recipe is easy to double on 2 cookie sheets and roasted at the same time for a crowd, a buffet or to freeze some.  See below.
You can use any combination of root vegetables you like.  If using red beets your other vegetables may take on a bit of red color. It is pretty, but if you don’t like it, use golden beets instead.  The photo above and a short video of Oven Roasted Root Vegetables is from Tori Avey.
 

Advance Prep:  
You can do all of the chopping, peeling, and measuring up to two days ahead. Place ingredients into a sealed refrigerator bag, seal and toss ingredients to coat, then refrigerate until ready to cook. Pop them in the oven when you’re ready to roast.
You can roast the vegetables up to two days ahead. Cook them until almost (but not quite) fully tender. Refrigerate in a sealed bag. Just before your meal, reheat in a 400 degree F oven for just a few minutes. By the time they’re heated through, they’ll be perfectly cooked.  OR, put them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, freeze and bag them partially cooked for another meal!

Instructions:
Place a rack in the bottom of your oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Unless indicated otherwise above, slice all vegetables into chunks roughly 1 1/2 inches wide. The more similar the size of the vegetable pieces, the more evenly they will roast.
Place cut vegetables and garlic cloves into a large mixing bowl. Add 3 T olive oil, fresh thyme leaves, ground cumin, kosher salt, and black pepper. Stir until all vegetables are evenly coated with oil, spice and herbs.  Brush large rimmed baking sheet with remaining 1 tbsp olive oil. Spread the vegetables out evenly on the baking sheet. Place the rosemary sprigs on top of the vegetables, evenly spaces across the sheet.
Roast the vegetables in the oven for 15 minutes. Stir, bringing the chunks from the outside towards the center and the chunks in the center out towards the edges. Return baking sheet to oven and continue to roast until the largest chunks are tender and the edges are starting to turn golden/dark, another 15-25 minutes.
Remove the roasted rosemary sprigs and stir the vegetables (some leaves of rosemary will remain, this is good). Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Vegetables can be served warm or at room temperature.

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Story: 
Roasted root vegetables are a savory treat this time of year and you can make extra to freeze for a side dish or creamy soup!  They exemplify the invitation to eat seasonally in winter.  Storing Winter Vegetables  Have you ever had potatoes or onions begin to sprout and soon spoil as they waited for you to use them?  
The Spruce has some detailed recommendations like using soft or bruised vegetables first, which root vegetables should go in the fridge in a low humidity drawer and keeping onions and spuds in separate pantries or cupboards.  Keeping winter veggies out of the light and providing good ventilation in wire baskets, a paper bag or even a cardboard box with holes can help reduce sprouting and spoilage of potatoes, garlic, beets and sweet potatoes.  Our grand and great-grandmothers knew!
 

Ingredients:
2T  olive oil
1 C yellow onion, diced
1 C celery, diced (2 stalks)
1 C carrot, diced (2-3 whole carrots)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 C parsnip, diced (1 small)
½ pound Yukon gold (Russet or Sweet) potatoes, approximately 2, diced
½ pound turnip or rutabaga, 1 medium, diced
1 C leek, sliced (optional)
2 tsp fresh rosemary or 2/3 tsp dried
2 tsp fresh thyme or 2/3 tsp dried
pinch red pepper flakes
¼ tsp white pepper (optional)
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼ tsp dried sage
1 bay leaf
4 C vegetable broth, chicken stock or water
2 C kale or spinach, chopped
½ lemon, freshly squeezed or 1 T bottled lemon juice

Instructions:
Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrot, and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute for 1 minute. Then add the rosemary, thyme, red pepper flakes, pepper, and sage, cook for 1 minute.
Add parsnip and potato and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes. Don’t stir too often so that they have a chance to caramelize. Add the turnip or rutabaga and leek (if using), cooking for 2-3 minutes, then add broth (or water) and bring to a simmer with bay leaf.
Keep uncovered and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the veggies are tender (depending on how small you cut them, the time will vary). Add salt throughout, taste-testing to be sure you have the right amount. The potatoes will absorb quite a bit of salt, so you’ll likely add more than expected.
With a few minutes left, add the kale/spinach (if using) and allow it to wilt. Remove the bay leaf and stir in a squeeze of lemon before serving. Optional: puree half of the soup with an immersion blender. Garnish with fresh parsley, croutons, or Parmesan, as desired.

Root Vegetables: 
In winter, root vegetables can keep a long time, if stored in a cool, dark, dry place.  Some farm families kept them for months after harvest in root cellars or basement stashes.  They are versatile and can be sauteed in soups, roasted, boiled, mashed, steamed, pureed or braised in stock, wine or beer.  Most root vegetables can be deep-fried or eaten raw or blanched with dip.  Leafy tops like turnip and beet greens are full of nutrients. Root veggies provide fiber, vitamins, and savory or sweet flavor.  Try glazing them with butter and maple syrup or in a gratin with cheesy bread crumb topping!  Rutabagas (called swedes outside the US) also add a distinctive flavor to Cornish Pasties famous in Cornwall and northern Michigan mining towns!

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Story:  Community Supported Agriculture
This is the time of year when root veggies are in season and it's time to consider buying a share in a local farm!  The Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) movement provides a way for eaters to get fresh, seasonal and often organic produce and proteins from a local farm and “put a face” on their food.  It is a fulfilling way to build a relationship with those who provide, veggies, eggs, poultry and meats and to support the local farm economy and ecosystem.  Read on for more information and how to find a farmer that suits you!

A CSA share is a subscription.  A subscriber provides up-front cash to a local farmer.  This investment enables the farmer to finance what is needed to produce healthy, often organic crops, flocks or cattle for the next season of production.  In return, subscribers receive a regular share of what is grown.  The farmer and the eater share both benefits and risks associated with growing food. CSA farmers are often very flexible about what you want to receive in your share.

My Google search for “local csa farms” produced results for at least 7 other farms in the La Crosse area with evocative names like:  Small Family Farm, Harmony Valley Farm, Growing Point Farm, Inch by Inch Organic,  One named Deep Roots Community Farm in La Crosse, provides apples, beef, horse boarding and educational events.  They tell me that beef shares are paid in fall for a Jan/Feb harvest.  Others provide produce, pork, poultry, eggs.  Featherstone Farm in Rushford, MN provides produce to The People’s Coop and other retail and individual subscribers in the area.  You can also search for Winter Farmer's Markets in Wisconsin or wherever you live.

When we subscribed to a CSA, our first CSA “box” or share included spring greens, and later summer squash, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, berries and whatever was ripe at the time on our list of “likes”.  The farm provided recipes that helped us use what the land provided.  It was a welcome and tasty challenge.  Later, we teamed up with an egg producer and then a young couple who raises chickens that taste like chicken!  We got to visit the farm, develop a friendship, and get turkey and turkey eggs from their efforts!  So, if you don’t grow your own, check out one of the many farms who offer shares in flexible sizes and contents that can satisfy your taste and commitment to eating well from the local food system. 

Attached is an article adapted from Asparagus tp Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm=Fresh Seasonal Produce by John Henrikson and Mary Ostrum of the Madison's Fairshare CSA Coalition a site that also provides a way to Find a Farm anywhere in the lower 48 states. Another good read is "Finding Turtle Farm: The story of starting and running an organic farm", written by Angela Tedesco who owned one of the first Community Supported Agriculture operations in the Upper Midwest.