Experiments in Food: Roasted Root Vegetables and Salmon with More Vegetables

[jerusha]

The inital thought was to serve the "Salmon and more vegetables" part over the roasted root veg, but that didn't work out.

Hardware:

• 1 9x13x2 baking dish or equivalent (this is serving as a roasting dish, so anything big enough for the veg that's oven-safe is fine)
  
• 1 large skillet with lid
  
• Cutting board
  
• Sharp knife
  
• Vegetable Peeler (Y peeler; I

Comments

[filkerdave]

Yum!

[elisheva]

Got me drooling here...

[tigertoy]

My mom says rutabaga is sometimes called yellow turnip. (It is a kind of turnip.) I thought it was utterly disgusting as a kid and I haven't had any in my adult life.

Before I succumbed to the ease of jars of pre-chopped garlic, I occasionally used (partially) sprouted garlic. If you cut the clove in half lengthwise and pick out the green from the inside, the outer part still works.

[jerusha]

Having just been looking stuff up on Wikipedia, I have a question that might have a bearing on this: how do you like other brassica vegetables, like cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, or brocoli? (Yes, both turnips and yellow turnips are members of this family, as are mustards and canola.)

Isn't sprouted garlic bitter? I'd been told that it made the whole clove bitter. (I didn't sample last night, I just cut them open, saw the sprouts, said bad words, and moved on.)

Also, apropos of the previous recipe discussion, the brand of curry paste I use is Maesri, and it's available online. (I could mongol a can to FKO, if you'd like to take a can home to try.)

[tigertoy]

I like cabbage pretty well when it's cooked. (I'm not too big on cole slaw.) Brussels sprouts and broccoli are horrid. I hated cauliflower as a kid, but came to realize as I got older that it could be prepared in ways that made it yummy, and I'm to the point where I think of it as something I like (as long as it's cooked). I don't much like white turnips but they don't seem quite as nasty as rutabaga.

the brand of curry paste I use is Maesri

I should check the local exotic food store; they don't have anything but Thai Kitchen in the supermarkets. If I can't get it locally, I'd just be frustrated with one can mongoled to me assuming I liked it, since the chances of my actually mail ordering it are really slim.

[jerusha]

That's interesting. I wonder if there's some flavor compound common to the family that you disklike?

I will accept that the chances of mail ordering it are slim. I just have to point out, because I'm wildly amused by it, that you can buy this curry paste from Amazon.

i was thinking

[anach]

that we should have taken the root veggies and fried them real quick, just to make them crisp a bit also...

Re: i was thinking

[jerusha]

After they roast they don't have the structural integrity to do it. Before, I think it would ruin the roasting by sealing the veg. Roasting in vegetables, as I understand it, works by a) driving off water, concentrating the flavor, and b) caramelizing some of the sugars.

I wonder if, less crowded, cooked longer, or in a hotter oven, if there might have been some browning and crunch?

Re: i was thinking

[dormouse_in_tea]

You are correct in the roasting purpose, per Alton Brown and ... er, someone else on Food Network. (I've been reading their books, not cooking)

The nameless one taught me a useful trick yesterday at Borders.

If you take root vegetables and prep them (up to the oil step, stop before that) and microwave them for 3-5 minutes, you get a bit of a head start on the roasting process, and save a fair bit of time in the oven.

I don't know how well this WORKS, but it occurs to me it might be easier to microwave the turnip-thingy rather than try to juggle the full roasting pan?

Re: i was thinking

[jerusha]

Yeah, Alton is where I learned that.

I didn't know the microwave trick, though. Thanks!

[qnofhrt]

Rutabagas are what goes in REAL pasties :-)