Recipes From the Root Cellar_ 270 Fresh Ways to Enjoy Winter Vegetables - Andrea Chesman [41]
The first gatherings of the garden in May of salads, radishes and herbs made me feel like a mother about her baby — how could anything so beautiful be mine. And this emotion of wonder filled me for each vegetable as it was gathered every year. There is nothing that is comparable to it, as satisfactory or as thrilling, as gathering the vegetables one has grown.
— Alice B. Toklas (1877–1967)
Walnut Vinaigrette
Makes about 2/3 cup
Walnut oil at its best is fragrant with walnuts. Look for walnut oil in natural-foods stores. Like all nut oils, it should be stored in the refrigerator and used within 2 months. But if you don’t have walnut oil on hand or don’t want to buy it for just occasional use, use olive oil. Although lacking the punch of walnut, the dressing will still be flavorful and well balanced.
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 small shallot, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
6 tablespoons walnut or extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine the vinegar, shallot, and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in the oil until completely blended. Season with salt and pepper.
Kitchen Note: This is a lovely dressing for a beet salad, topped with blue cheese or goat cheese and garnished with walnuts.
Orange Vinaigrette
Makes about ¾ cup
Oranges have an affinity for beets, a fact that suggests the orange flavor will marry with other root vegetables as well. Try this dressing on any roasted-vegetable salad.
3 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Whisk the orange juice, vinegar, shallot, orange zest, and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in the oil until it is fully incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.
Kitchen Note: A Microplane is the ideal tool for grating citrus zest.
Microplane Grater: A Wonderful kitchen Gadget
Very rarely do I get a new kitchen tool that makes me wonder how I ever cooked successfully without it, but the Microplane grater is just that sort of gadget. Developed by the Microplane Company, the Microplane grater hit the market in the 1990s. It is very similar to a woodworking rasp: a long metal shaft covered with small, sharp metal teeth. Don’t know what it looks like? Check the Internet or see the movie Ratatouille and watch the little rat chef grate Parmesan with a Microplane! (It’s also a great movie.) Because the teeth are small, they are perfect for removing just the zest from citrus fruit without cutting into the bitter white membrane. The shreds they create are very fine: just what you want for citrus zest. I also use my Microplane for grating nutmeg, ginger, and hard cheeses like Parmesan.
Sesame-Ginger Vinaigrette
Makes ½ cup
This dressing is perfect on roasted sweet potatoes and other roasted vegetables. It also makes a lovely dressing for Asian-style noodle salads.
1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 shallot, quartered
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons sunflower or canola oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine the ginger, shallot, and garlic in a blender and finely chop. Add the sunflower oil, lemon juice, sesame oil, and sugar, and process until blended. Season with salt and pepper.
Molasses-Mustard Vinaigrette
Makes about 1 cup
The molasses-mustard combination is fairly common in Southern barbecues. I was reminded of the combination at a tapas restaurant in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they served it as a dipping sauce for “Mediterranean egg rolls” (go figure). As soon as I tasted it, I knew it would be perfect with roasted vegetables.
½ cup dark unsulfured molasses
1/3 cup dijon mustard