ROOT VEGETABLES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 430, 19 September 1947, Page 22

ROOT VEGETABLES

HERE are still some weeks to go before the delicious spring vegetables come in, so let us see if we can devise some new ways of serving the useful root vegetables. Potatoes are really the most valuable all-round root vegetable, but beetroot, carrots, pafsnips, turnips and swedes all help out. Remember that the vitamins are stored mainly just under the skin, so that it is better to scrub them than to peel them. Moreover, it has been pointed out to me that four small potatoes weighing 2oz. each have’ more skin-surface than one large one weighing half a pound; so do not despise the small ones. Remember, also, that steaming is the best method of cooking vegetables, and that if they are boiled, use as little water as possible and save it all after straining, using it up in soups or saucés or gravies, Beetroot and Lemon-Orange Juice This is an American way of serving beetroot. It is a very common hot vegetable in America, and very delicious. Choose small beetroots, scrub them ard place in boiling water, either salted or not, atid boil till tender. Do not test with a knife or fork, but by lifting one out with a perforated spoon, and trying if the skin will slip off-you can hold it under the cold tap for a minute. When cooked, strain them, slip off the skins, and slice thinly, put them back into the saucepan with a tablespoon of butter, the juice of half a letnon and half an orange and a shake of pepper, and reheat for only 2 minutes-any longer will lessen the vitamin-value, Alternatively, you can serve the slices with a good white sauce poured over them. Buttered Diced Beets and Celery Cook the stiall-sized beets (as above), tub off the skins under cold water, and chop them coarsely. Boil some celery in very little salted water, strain; and chop it finely, having about half as much celery as beet. Fry some finely-chopped onion in a little butter (or clean fat) until tender but not brown, add the chopped beétroot and célery, season to taste with salt and pepper, and add about 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Make very hot quickly ard serve. Baked Beets with Onions Four cups pared, diced, faw beets; 1 cup coarsely chopped ofiions; 142 teaspoons salt; % cup boiling water; 4 tablespoons butter, margafine, or other fat. Arrange the beets and onions if layers in a cassefole; add the salt, boiling water and butter; cover, and bake in moderate oven (375deg.) for about 1 hour 10 minutes. , Candied Carrots This is a delicious recipe (American), We shail have to use dried mint just tow, which is really no drawback, although I do prefer the fresh chopped mint. Parboil sufficient washed and scraped carrots for 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Split them down lengthwise, unless very small and young. Arratige in casserole, sprinkle with brown

sugar, and finely-chopped mint. Dot with generous knobs of butter, Bake in hot oven for half an hour. — Beet and Apple Salad Boil little round beetroots, Rub off skins, and scoop out some of the middle. Chop this up, with an equal amount of eating apple. Celery may also be added. Moisten with mayotinaise, put back into beets, piling mixture on top. Put dab of mayonnaisé on top; serve nestled in — lettuce leaves. > Parsnips It is best to buy medium-sized parsnips, smooth and firm. Avoid soft, flabby, shrivelled ones-they are apt to be pithy and fibrous. Besides serving them boileg and mashed with butter and milk (they are specially nice with a fish dinner); or baked with a roast joitit like potatoes; or boiled and left whole, sprinkled with parsley (and with a little butter if possible); they may be served as follows: Parsnips in Tomato Sauce Slice 2lb. of pared parsnifis crosswise and cook im a small quantity of salted water till tender. In the meatititie put into a saucepan a medium onion (sliced) and Y2 cup diced celery, 3% cups of canned (or home-preserved) t6mato pulp, "1 teaspoon salt, a bay leaf, 4 teaspoon pepper, 1 dessertspoon sugat, and 3 or 4 cloves. Simmer all this, with lid on, for about 4% hour. Thefi add the strained, cooked parsnips and simmer together for a few minutes. This is a very tasty vegetable dish served with either hot or cold meat, sausages, of liver, of bacon, or with fried fish. Parsnip Cakes Peel about 6 or 7 patsnips (medium sizé) and slice them crosswise thinly, Cook them, covered, with 1 smallish onion, also sliéed, iti about af itich of boiling water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash wel Then add 1 beaten egg, a shake of pepper, and 4 cup soft breadcrumbs. Mix well togéthet, and when cool, form itito little cakes, toll in dried breadcrumbs, (very fine) and fry golden brown both sides in a little fat or oil. Onion Cheesies (American) Boil sufficient large, peeled, whole onions until just tender. Strain carefully (not to break them) and place in a shallow baking dish. Cut a wide crosé in the top of each, and sprinkle a few drops of "condiment sauce" in each cross. (We shall have to use Worcester sauce, or perhaps a thick plum sauce or any other of our home-made sauces or chutneys.) Then press 2 tablespooris of grated (processed) cheese into each cross. (The pfto¢essed cheese is softer and best for the recip#). Bake in mod--erate oven (about 375deg.) for about ~ 40 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown. s ~