It took me many years to warm up to root vegetables and I admit that I may never get to like rutabaga and turnip. But, I have come to love sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and beets.
Filling, tasty, and versatile, these vegetables are easy to store and can make great side dishes, soups, or entrees.
Although most people think of roasting them, there are a variety of ways to prepare root vegetables. Roasting is fabulous but you can also puree, mash, and grill them or use them in soups and casseroles. They make hearty soups that, served with a nice crusty loaf of bread, can make a great meal for a winter evening.
Most root vegetables are full of vitamins, fibre, and relatively inexpensive. This makes them an ideal choice for those on a budget that are looking to eat healthier. Common root vegetables include potatoes, sweet potatoes (yams), celery root (celeriac), radishes, carrots, parsnips, turnip, rutabaga, and beets.
You can get exotic and try things like yucca (a potato like vegetable) and sunchokes (also called Jerusalem artichokes). One of the nicest things about many root vegetable dishes is that they tend to use a variety of them and you can mix and match, leaving out the ones you don’t like (like turnip) and substituting in things you really enjoy (like parsnips).
So, don’t get turned off a recipe if it includes a vegetable you aren’t fond of, instead try it with something you like as a substitute ingredient.
Here’s a few recipes, including the classic roasted vegetables, to get you started.
Pureed Roasted Parsnips
This recipe comes courtesy of Elise Bauer. If you are not watching calories and want a real treat, use drippings from a roast beef to roast your parsnips in.
- 2 lbs of parsnips – peel, and remove woody core (you can see it if you cut a slice off the fat end of the vegetable – just cut around it), and chop
- 3 TB butter, melted
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, toss chopped parsnips and melted butter until coated. Spread them out on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and tender.
Puree in blender with water. Add nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
Root Vegetable Soup
This one is from the Heart & Stroke Foundation website, so you know it’s good for you and it tastes good too! Remember, you can substitute vegetables you like for ones you don’t.
- 1 TB canola oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1 tsp dried sage leaves, rubbed
- 2 parsnips, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- Half rutabaga, peeled and chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 6 cups sodium reduced chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 smoked turkey drumstick, fresh or frozen, skin removed
- 1 can (19 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
In large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat and cook onion, garlic, thyme and sage until softened (about 3 minutes). Add vegetables, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes until coated.
Add chicken broth, turkey, and water. Bring it to a boil, cover, and lower heat. Simmer for about an hour, until vegetables are tender and turkey meat is falling off the bone.
Remove the turkey leg from the soup and take the remaining meat off the bone. Chop it up and return it to the soup pot along with the kidney beans. Heat until beans are hot and serve.
Mashed Celeriac & Potatoes
This one comes from Betsy Jabs of Do It Yourself Natural.
- 1 large celery root
- 8 medium yellow potatoes
- 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup sour cream or kefir
Peel and chop celery root (yes, all the hair comes off!). Chop the potatoes into pieces too. You can peel the potatoes if you wish but the skin is full of great vitamins.
Boil vegetables together in a large pot of boiling water for 10-12 minutes, until fully cooked. Drain off water and return vegetables to put. Add butter and mash until all butter is melted and you have no lumps.
Add remaining ingredients, mix well, and serve.
Sunchoke Gratin
I’ve given you the recipe as Molly Watson wrote it but, as she suggests, consider adding in your favourite herbs and other vegetables such as potatoes.
- 2 lbs. sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes)
- Butter or oil for pan
- Salt, freshly ground black pepper, freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 cup broth, cream, half-and-half, or some combination
- 1/2 to 1 cup shredded Parmesan or other hard, grating cheese
Preheat oven to 375 F. Peel and clean sunchokes. Cut them into even ¼ inch slices. Butter or grease a casserole dish (2 quart size). Create a solid layer of sunchokes on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Create another layer of sunchokes on top and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. You can also add a light sprinkling of cheese to this layer. Continue layering sunchokes, using nutmeg (and cheese if desired) only on every second layer.
Once done, pour broth or cream over sunchokes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, nutmeg and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until just tender, approximately 40 minutes.
Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes.
Soft Sweet Potato Fries
These are my own recipe and not like French fries. You can crisp them up to the point where they are more like a crispy fry but I like the soft, buttery taste of them done this way.
- Sweet potatoes, cut into sticks – they can be as thick or thin as you’d like, thinner tends to be crispier
- Olive oil
- Herbes de Provence
Toss sweet potatoes in olive oil and Herbes de Provence until thoroughly coated. Bake at 350 F until done (20 minutes minimum, depending on thickness of fries, may take longer).
The longer you cook them and the thinner the fries, the more likely you are to get crispy fries. I like them soft and tender.
Baked/Roasted Root Vegetables
This recipe is from the All Recipes site, courtesy of Newsahmom.
- 1 lb new potatoes, halved
- ½ large rutabaga, peeled and cubed
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 2 large parsnips, peeled and cubed
- 2 large carrots, peeled and cubed
- 3 TB olive oil
- 3 TB sweet red chili sauce
- 1 ½ tsp onion powder
- 1 ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 TB steak seasoning
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss all vegetables in a large bowl with olive oil and chili sauce. In a separate bowl mix seasonings together and then toss them with the vegetable, ensuring everything gets a nice coating of spices.
Place vegetables in a 9 x 13 baking dish and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, stir, and then cook for another 20 minutes until done.
Cover photo: mylittlejarofspices.wordpress.com
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