Sunday, my normal farmers market day, I bought some sunchokes. It was the first time that I had seen the cute, horseradishy-looking tubers this season and I was a little excited about cooking them. They’re kind of like a potato in the kitchen. Once you wash the residual dirt off them, there is no need to peel. You can just simply cut into slices, toss into some olive oil, spread onto a cookie sheet, and using dried or fresh rosemary, bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. Throw a little salt on them….and it reminds me of a baked potato.
While I was strolling through my favorite LA farmers market (Melrose Farmers Market), I additionally saw some parsnips and turnips both of which I love and thought to myself, as I do often (thinking to myself that is…you really don’t want to know what goes on in my head), “Why not make a meal of roasted white vegetables?”. And, so I did.
Parsnips have that lovely sweetness. Combine them with turnips which have a bit of peppery bite and throw in the artichoke flavor of the sunchokes; toss all of them with some fresh garlic gloves, still in their paper, salt and olive oil. Perfection.
There isn’t only a nickel-and-dime experience in buying these particular edibles but its also an education in doing something different. It’s nice to change things up…. taking a different road to get to the same place. Roast a piece of fish next to them…voila. Simple.
Let’s make this puppy:
1. When shopping through the farmers markets, buy one or two parsnips, one or two turnips, and pound of sunchokes.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
3. Wash everything thoroughly. No need to peel the sunchokes which are knobby little tubers, looking somewhat like ginger or horseradish. However, the turnips and parsnips need to be removed of their skin. Cut the veggies into about the same thickness and shapes across the board for even roasting.
4. Throw into a shallow roaster and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and rosemary. (Optional: Cutting up slab bacon and or pieces of pancetta tossed into the pan.)
5. Serve up by themselves or with a dense, oily fish like salmon or maybe a roast. Lovely.
