The Winter Root Veg Bible

Submitted by Alex on Thu, 06/02/2020 - 12:10

Making the most of your winter veg

After chatting with Mandy Mazliah about her cooking courses last week, we got on to what she does with all the seasonal roots this time of year. She has come back with an overflowing cupboard of ideas that we are delighted to share with all of you. Consider this your new winter veg bible. Save it, share it, print it, stick it on the fridge, and you'll always have a plan for those scary swedes, terrifying turnips and sulking celeriacs.

Mandy Mazliah is a vegan mum of three from south London whose kids don’t eat vegetables. Read about her efforts to get them to eat their five a day at sneakyveg.com or for easy seasonal vegan recipes check out cookveggielicious.com

As Local Greens customers we’re lucky to get a good variety of winter vegetables in our vegetable bags every week. However, what if they’re not your favourite? What if the kids won’t eat them? And what do you do if you’ve let the root veggies build up and they’re taking over your fridge?!

It can be hard to know how to cook a celeriac, swede or turnip to make the best of them. I’m going to share a few simple ideas here and also links to recipes that you might like to try.

Winter salads

Roasted root vegetables work surprisingly well in winter salads. Roasted squash is particularly good, but even celeriac can be used in a salad.

Turn them into soup

Root vegetable soup is a great way to use up odds and ends of winter vegetables. Simply fry an onion or leek, add garlic, vegetable stock and your root vegetables. Once soft, blend the lot together.

Make a curry or stew

A root vegetable curry or stew is a great use for your winter veg. If you have a slow cooker you can make a stew using that or simply replace other vegetables in your favourite curry with your root veg. Add a tin of chickpeas or lentils for extra protein.

Freeze them

Peel your veg, chop them into chunks and place in a freezer bag or box. If you want to avoid them sticking together, freeze them on a tray lined with baking paper for an hour before transferring to your container. This way you can come back to them at a later date.

Tray bake

Peel and chop your root veg, maybe add a cauliflower and some sausages, and roast in the oven until cooked. A brilliant one dish dinner that saves on washing up too.

Mash them

Pretty much all root vegetables make delicious mash to have alongside your favourite roast, sausages, pie etc., or on top of a shepherd’s pie. Parsnip mash is particularly delicious on top of shepherd’s pie. Celeriac can be a bit hard to mash but it tastes delicious. Mash with a tin of butterbeans for a more filling mash. Adding a little bit of spice, such as nutmeg, or some herbs, can make your mash even tastier. Try combinations for example celeriac and potato, swede and carrot or parsnip and turnip. You can also freeze mashed veg in portions for use at a later date.

Bake with it

Everyone loves carrot cake right? You can replace the carrots with most other root vegetables such as celeriac, parsnip or swede.

Mandy's winter vegetable recipes

Celeriac

Butterbean and celeriac mash

Celeriac and chestnut buckwheat salad

Lentil shepherd’s pie with celeriac mash

Warm celeriac salad with chestnuts and blueberries

Jerusalem artichoke and celeriac soup

Honey roasted celeriac salad with quinoa and raspberries

Celeriac flapjacks

Celeriac and parsnip soda bread