Almost four months of veg boxes now, and I still get excited about opening the new box
every Wednesday morning. And still almost every box has something in it that I’ve
never cooked with before. This week, I had some red curly kale and surprise
globe artichokes (as a replacement for leeks – nice deal!). Last week, there
were dirty sticks and gnarly roots. And what do you know. They were delicious.
The dirty sticks turned out to be a vegetable more commonly known as black
salsify. A first for me, but I’m hoping they will show up in my box again soon.
The flavour of these couldn’t be more at odds with their appearance: they are delicate,
mild, and definitely something special. Peeled and cooked the spears look like
asparagus, and I think it was not just because of the visual resemblance that I
thought they tasted like asparagus a bit as well. I had them with a piece of bavette
steak I treated myself to, and the sticks had no problem holding their own
against the grilled meat. Best meal of the week hands down.
The gnarly roots were Jerusalem artichokes. In the absence of smell as a
guide you could easily mistake them for smooth-skinned ginger, but, much to my
surprise, they actually did taste like artichokes, if rather less pronounced
than their globe brothers. The most astonishing feat of these, though, was the
hue they coloured the water over which I steamed them. One of the most stunning
examples of that feeling that such a thing can surely not exist in nature. White
flesh, no skin, and the water a bluish green of almost neon intensity. Fortunately
the flavour was pretty out-of-this-world too.
Black salsify in a butter and lemon sauce
Inspired by a recipe in The Cranks Bible.
4–6
sticks of black salsify per person
some butter
juice of half a lemon
fresh flat-leaf parsley
First, peel the black salsify. This
can be a bit tricky, since the roots tend to bleed a very sticky latex (only
one of the dirty sticks gave me this treatment, but since I was stubborn and
didn’t run the tap as I was peeling, it still took me five minutes to get the
sticky residue off my fingers). Have a bowl of water with some lemon juice or
vinegar ready, and immediately submerge every stick after peeling in order to
stop it from going brown. Cut into 10cm pieces and boil or steam until tender
but not bendy (5–10 minutes). Alternatively,
if the sticks are thin, just give them a scrub, cut into pieces, boil or steam,
then simply squeeze the root from its skin.
When the salsify is cooked, slowly
melt a knob of butter with a bit of olive oil. Add the salsify, and a good
squeeze of lemon, salt and black pepper to taste. Cook for a couple of minutes
until the salsify is hot, then serve with the reduced sauce and some torn
flat-leaf parsley sprinkled on top.
Super delicious with a mild smooth
root veg mash and thinly sliced grilled steak.
Jerusalem artichoke salad with spinach and
bacon
Jerusalem artichokes
a couple slices
of bacon (back or streaky)
a generous salad
bowl of spinach
a small handful
of flat-leaf parsley
juice of half a
lemon
Peel or wash the Jerusalem artichokes, then steam for about 10–12
minutes, until just tender. Crisp the bacon in a frying pan or on a griddle, an
cut in slices while still warm (if you wait till they’re cool they’ll likely shatter).
Wash the spinach and cut any very big leaves into smaller pieces. For the
dressing, mix some olive or hazelnut oil, lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt
and pepper. For an extra citrusy kick, grate in some of the lemon zest. Cut the
Jerusalem artichokes into thick slices and grill until they’re crispy on the
outside (resist the temptation to move the pieces around as they cook). Mix
into the salad and top with the bacon. Eat straight from the bowl with a fork
only.
- Naomi