Winter Vegetables

Winter in Chicago is long. Really long. By the end of January I go crazy for sun, and right about now I'm seriously craving the glorious vegetable bounty of summer in the Midwest. But I'm trying hard to be positive. I recently re-started ordering produce boxes from Fresh Picks. I used to get them regularly in the summer and early fall, but stopped once school started. I figured that I wouldn't have time to use up all the veggie, plus I didn't want what I imagined would be box after box of potatoes.

As it turns out, I'm cooking even more now than I did in the summer. I've also spent the last couple of months learning to love a lot of new vegetables, ones that I hated as a kid. Of particular note are brussels sprouts. I used to gag at the thought of them, but these days, we eat them at least once a week. Like many winter vegetables, they are glorious roasted, and pretty icky cooked almost any other way.

Getting to the (recipe) point. I started getting Fresh Picks deliveries last week. In my box, in addition to some beautiful lacinato kale, arugula, and cauliflower, was this huge bag of assorted root vegetables. As you can see, they are a far cry from the mounds of potatoes I had feared. At first, I wondered what I would do with three pounds of roots, but it has been going great so far. I made a big batch of chicken stock with some of the carrots and parsnips, enjoyed a beautiful celery root salad (more on this later), and, last night, we had this awesome dish. I happily took a large jar for lunch today, and I hate to eat the same thing two meals in a row. You should make it before winter ends.

Roasted Root Vegetable and Wheat Berry Salad (adapted from David Lebovitz)

serves 4

-1 and 1/2 pounds assorted root vegetables (I used purple carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips)

-1 cup wheat berries (or barley, quinoa, etc.)

-1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

-1 cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

-large handful arugula, washed and roughly chopped

-1/2 cup dried cranberries

-1/4 cup olive oil + more for coating the roots

-squeeze of lemon juice

-1 tablespoon walnut oil (optional)

-salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425

1. Bring about 4 cups of heavily salted water to a boil, and add the wheat berries. Cook until tender, about 40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut all the root vegetables into small, uniformly sized pieces, toss with a little oil and salt. Spread the vegetables out on a baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes, turning halfway through, until they are tender and browned.

2. Drain the cooked root berries, and toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, dried cranberries, onion, arugula, walnuts, and salt. Mix in the root vegetables.

3. Drizzle the walnut oil on top, squeeze a lemon over the whole thing, grind some pepper on, and serve. You may want to add a little more salt at this point, as the wheat berries taste odd if not sufficiently salted. We crumbled some feta on top, but that's completely optional.

Mushroom Stew

I love mushrooms. They are way up there on my list of favorite foods, up there with lobster sandwiches, roasted brussels sprouts, and hanger steak. I love them prepared in all sorts of ways: cooked slowly in butter, stirred in risotto, grilled. This preparation is probably my favorite, since it allows me to make a complete meal of mushrooms. I recently served it, with egg noodles, at a vegetarian dinner party, and it was a hit.

Mushroom Stew (adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Mushroom Bourguignon and my dad's beef stew)

Serves 4 or 5 as a main dish, or 8 as a first course.

2-3 lbs portobello mushrooms (if I have other mushrooms in the fridge, such a shiitake, I throw them in as well), sliced thickish (about 1/2"), stems removed
2-3 large carrots, diced
1 large yellow onion, or a handful of shallots, minced
1 celery rib, diced
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1-2 cups pearl onions, peeled
1 cup of red wine
2 cups of broth (beef, chicken and vegetable all work)
2 tablespoons sundried tomato paste (or regular tomato paste)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 and 1/2 tablespoons flour
a few sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper

1. Heat a large high sided skillet or a dutch oven over high heat, and add two tablespoons of olive oil. Sear mushrooms on both sides (about a minute or two per side). You don't want them to release any liquid, but to just brown. Remove and set aside.

2. Add the third tablespoon of olive oil to the pot, and cook the onion, celery, carrots, and thyme. Once the onions are translucent, add the garlic and cook for another minute or so.

3. Add the wine to the pot and scrape to deglaze. Bring it to a boil and let it reduce by about half. Then add the broth, bring it to a boil again, and lower the heat. Simmer for 25-30 minutes, adding the pearl onions at the 20 minute mark.

4. Melt the butter and mix in the flour with a fork to form a paste. Mix the paste into the stew, and simmer until it reaches desired thickness (I'm usually satisfied at 8-12 minutes).

Serve over egg noodles or mashed potatoes.