Saturday, January 24, 2009

Roasted Root Vegetables -- Celeriac, Daikon and Sweet Potatoes


This is the time of year when we get a lot of questions from friends and family about using root vegetables, and we specifically got questions last month about what to do with celeriac and whether we had a simple roasted root vegetable recipe. If you're new to dealing with knobby winter creatures, roasting is an easy way to knock out the contents of your CSA share and heat your house at the same time. Did we mention that you can also do a 25-minute Pilates workout while this is in the oven? Because yeah, that's what we did last night. Celeriac: enabler of gorgeous abs!

We used Japanese sweet potatoes (the kind that are white on the inside), watermelon daikon (try some--it's gorgeous and delicious raw) and celeriac, but you can try this with any combination of root vegetables: try parsnips, beets, purple potatoes, or whatever else you have in abundance. Phoebe's formula is one part sweet vegetables (parsnip, yam, fennel or sweet potato), one part aggressive vegetables (daikon, rutabaga, turnip) and one part neutral vegetables (potatoes or celeriac). If you're using tougher vegetables like rutabaga or turnips, make sure to chop them a bit smaller so you don't end up with rock-hard chunks amid cooked ones.

1 large chestnut sweet potato, diced
3 medium-sized watermelon daikon radishes, diced
1 large celeriac, diced
2 small waxy potatoes, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Toss vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper in a large pyrex pan or on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast until vegetables are tender with some crispy edges, 25-40 minutes. Stir once or twice midway through with a metal spatula (a wooden one could mush your veggies).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Hannah, haven't stopped by in awhile and wanted to do so and say hello! Though you can imagine I'm not roasting, toasting, baking, etc., any more but I do love root veggies. Celeriac is nice serve raw, like a crudite.

I Heart Kale said...

Thanks for stopping by, John and Ingrid! I love raw celeriac, too.