I do persist in buying potatoes – keeping them cool and dark like one is supposed to – but more often than not these are the vegetables that grow eyes, eyes that plead “don’t throw me on the compost pile. Just scrape off the green and we are fine to eat.” They are lying of course. My poor husband, for whom mashed potato would be his desert island dish, usually has to get his potato lust sated elsewhere. What can I say?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not immune to the charms of the triple cooked chip, or the lure of softly creamy, garlic-scented dauphinoise. But mostly I am happy with other tubers and roots, and also to the grains and pseudo grains that fill the same hole in the diet and dish.
Maybe I am drawn to the colour of these other edibles. Perhaps I have trained myself over the (many, many) years to give potatoes the proverbial elbow, while embracing their more colourful soil-covered brethren. Maybe I am just a bit of a weirdo.
Until British potatoes are coming through why not give this simple baked root vegetable dish a try? We are having this with my savoury vegetable cake, spring onion gravy (posting soon, I promise), creamed kale and these fennel and maple-roasted carrots. Well, actually we are having this on Saturday. Sunday is being spent at this fine St Andrews restaurant with family because Rachel – unbelievably – doesn’t have an Easter break: classes on Good Friday and Easter Monday. Heavens above!
I will be back next with my Spring Onion Gravy, which will be perfect for any Easter lunch. Except ours. I don’t think The Adamson has a ‘BYOG’ policy. 😉 But perhaps I should just check…
Beetroot and Jerusalem Artichoke Boulangere {Gratin}
Gratin? Boulangere? Dauphinoise? This sweet, earthy and colourful baked vegetable dish is difficult to categorise, but not at all difficult to eat. It is an easily put together mélange of winter roots that is terrific not only as a side to any roast dinner, grilled fish, sausages, an omelette, but also a star in its own right with a crisp, seed-topped (for the protein) salad or on a buffet table. And of course, perfect for Easter.
Oh, and don’t be nervous of the lavender. In this amount it provides a background herbal, rather than overly floral, note. You could use all thyme leaves but the lavender really adds something special and intriguing.
Inspired by a recipe on williams-sonoma.com via kitchenkonfidential.com
1.5kg (3 lbs 5 oz) – or so – beetroot and Jerusalem artichokes. For the beetroot, try and obtain golden, chiogga (striped flesh) and red beets
5 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil, divided use (use ghee/clarified butter for paleo diets)
75g (2.6 oz/1/2 cup) finely chopped shallots or mild onion
1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
1 tsp culinary lavender buds (more or less, depends on how strong the aroma is; mine is 2 years old and mild)
Bay leaf
A few grinds of pepper
120ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) hot light vegetable stock
Chives, to garnish
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Oil or butter a gratin dish, heavy skillet or shallow pie dish of about 10 inches/23cm.
2. Wash and peel the beetroot then, using a mandolin if possible, thinly slice the beets into 2mm/1/16” rounds. For the Jersusalem artichokes, just scrub well and slice thinly with a mandolin, or by hand. I used many more beets than ‘chokes, but this is up to you. You could also use celeriac, carrots or swede or turnips/rutabaga in the mix too.
3. Warm the remaining butter or oil in a pan and sauté the chopped shallots slowly for five minutes, then add the herbs and pepper and sauté another minute.
4. Arrange the vegetables as you wish in your prepared dish. I tiled them in a rosette pattern(quite ineptly) but you could just layer them as you wish. Pour over the stock then pour or dab over and brush the herb and butter/oil mixture evenly over the top; tuck in the bay leaf. Cover tightly with foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the vegetable are very tender.
5. Garnish with chopped fresh chives or other fresh herbs that you like, such as chervil or parsley, and serve.
The rest of the Easter menu: savoury vegetable cake, maple & fennel roasted carrots, creamed kale, spring onion gravy (recipe to follow very soon)
I am entering this over at Credit Crunch Munch (fuss free flavours, fab food 4 all, and utterly scrummy). Why don’t you enter your own thrifty recipe?? And what about adding to Karen’s Cooking with Herbs ? And every week the lovely Emily hosts the very popular #recipeoftheweek. Go and add yours and maybe you will be one of her featured bloggers.
