My CSA Journal VI

WEEK #9:

Blue potatoes
Red beets
Red onions
Carrots
Root parsley
Turnips
Garlic
Watermelon radish
Salsify

From the Full Plate Farm Collective.


The watermelon radishes are the green and white spheres on the left side of the picture. Here's what they look like cut open:


Turnips and radish in a yogurt sauce: I wanted to make another turnip-and-yogurt dish (the last one being so successful), and this one is an amalgam of a couple Madhur Jaffrey recipes. First, I boiled two to three pounds of turnips and watermelon radishes, cut into 1-inch chunks, in salted water. When they were soft (about 15 minutes), I drained them and saved the vegetable stock for a later use. Then, I heated about two tablespoons each of vegetable oil and mustard oil, and briefly fried one teaspoon of whole cumin seeds before adding one medium sliced onion. I let the onion get quite browned (almost burnt) before adding 3/4 cup of chickpea flour (besan) and frying for a few minutes until it got slightly darker. This is basically an Indian roux, which I turned into a sauce by pouring in four cups of boiling water, a little at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. I seasoned the sauce with one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon ground ginger, half a teaspoon cayenne pepper, and about 1/3 cup tomato paste. After another few minutes of cooking, I slowly drizzled in one cup of yogurt, incorporating it quickly to keep it from curdling. Finally, the cooked turnips and radishes were folded in and heated through. The watermelon radish was a little too soft and bland for this dish, but the turnips were excellent with the sauce. It could even use a little more tartness, so tomorrow, I will try having the leftovers with a touch of pomegranate molasses (a new ingredient I've been itching to try).

[Update: pomegranate molasses did not go well with this dish. However, winter squash did. I peeled, seeded, and cut up a red kuri squash into 1-inch chunks, which I tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and baked at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until tender. Then, I just mixed the cooked squash in with the leftovers.]

Parsley root-carrot salad: I whipped up a slaw using stuff I had lying around, consisting of grated parsley root, grated carrot, sliced mushrooms, cubed tofu, toasted almond slivers, toasted sunflower seeds, and chopped hard-boiled egg, all dressed with a little soy sauce and my usual honey-mustard dressing. Perhaps some sliced scallion would also have been nice. The parsley root is wonderful raw -- juicy, slightly sweet, and heavily herbal.


Salsify with lentils: The salsify and the lentils are cooked separately and then combined at the very end. First, the lentils. I used ordinary lentils, but French lentils are better because they are less apt to turn into mush. In a small saucepan, I combined one cup lentils, one small chopped carrot, one small chopped parsley root, and half a chopped onion, along with a teaspoon of ground thyme and 1/2 teaspoon salt. I covered with water and simmered gently for about half an hour, until the lentils were tender. The result is shown in the first picture.

For the salsify, I peeled one pound of the furry roots, cut them into 1-inch chunks, and boiled them in salted water with the juice of half a lemon. When they were soft (about 20 minutes), I drained them and let them dry for a little bit. Meanwhile, I briefly heated some olive oil, along with two chopped garlic cloves, the grated zest of one lemon, and one small chopped parsley root (for a gremolata substitute). Then, I added the salsify pieces and fried for a few minutes to give them some color. The garlic also got quite brown, and this gave the dish a pleasant smokiness.

Finally, I added the lentils to the pan, adjusted the salt, ground in some pepper, and stirred thoroughly. For a final touch of brightess, I stirred in the the juice of the remaining half a lemon and about half a cup of yogurt. The salsify has a neutral flavor that carries the lemon quite well. And the meaty pieces provide a textural contrast to the soft lentils. Combined with the smoky garlic and creamy yogurt, this dish is hearty and comforting and satisfying.