Weird and Wonderful Food!

What in the world do I do with a rutabaga?

This is the time of year when the root vegetables are at their most lovely! And there is no way to impress your friends or family more with your culinary skill than to tell them you are roasting a celery root and turnips for dinner (well maybe not your kids, but I'll address that in a minute)! No one even knows what a celery root IS! The biggest joke of all, though is how incredibly easy they are to fix!

First, what is a root vegetable? Root vegetables are exactly what they claim to be: roots of vegetables. These are the parts of the veggies below the ground; the part you don't see. However, they are also the parts of the plants that are chock full of nutrition and flavor, not to mention easy on the wallet. Some of the more well known roots are the potatoes (sweet and white/new) onions, and carrots. Some of the lesser known varieties, and the most fun to cook with, are turnips, rutabagas, celery root, parsips, and beets. You can't go wrong picking any of these. Pick roots that are medium sized and heavy for their size. Avoid anything mushy.

Once home, store in a cool place in the crisper in the fridge. Roots will last a long time if stored correctly. Preparing them couldn't be easier. For almost all the roots, you just peel and (to roast) just chop into slightly larger than bite size peices. To make preparation easy, I cut up all my veggies and toss together in a garbage bag that is the size used in a small wastepaper basket. I know it sounds funny, but it works so well! Put them all in the bag, and then just pour in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and any spices that you want. Twist the top and shake away! Sometimes I just use salt and pepper with my olive oil and it's great. Sometimes I use rosemary or garlic. Experiment. Have your oven pre-heated to 450 degrees and just spray a cookie sheet and spread out your veggies in a single layer.

Roast for 30 minutes or so.....just until tender. If you want to do something extra special, in the last 5 minutes of roasting, drizzle a little honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar on your veggies and then toss in the bowl you plan to serve in.

As for the kid thing.....you would be surprised how well they go over if you don't go into too much detail about what it is you're cooking. Just say....oh, these are just different kinds of potatoes! They will never know the difference and drizzling a little maple syrup over them just makes them that much more sweet and carmelized.

Hope this little blog takes some of the mystery out of the roots. If you live anywhere near a Whole Foods, the grocer in the produce department will be your best friend in picking out "strange" new vegetables. Just the other day I was curious about celery root (had read about it in a magazine). The prouce guy helped me pick one out and told me just how to prepare it. It was about the ugliest vegetable I have ever, and I mean ever, seen, but what wonderful fragrance and flavor it produced the minute the skin came off.

Have fun! Cook well! Cook for your health, but mostly just cook for fun and flavor and for the experience of trying something new!!