by Meeta Khurana

How fantastic is this time of year? Visiting the local Farmer’s Markets is pure bliss right now. As summer kisses us goodbye, she leaves us with the last fresh bounties of peaches, raspberries and zucchini. Autumn reaches out tantalizing us with delicious plums, apples and pumpkins.

This year I am looking forward to experimenting more with root vegetables and pumpkins. As I start to see parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips, beets and rutabaga in the markets I am getting excited to try out the several recipe ideas I have bookmarked or saved.

Most people are familiar with the more common types of root vegetables like potatoes, carrots or celery, it’s those other unglamorous sorts that leave us scratching our heads. Beetroots, rutabagas, turnips and parsnips all offer wonderful variety in flavor. Besides being extremely nutritional they are perfect for soups, stews or gratin. But it does not end there - I have collected some incredible ideas that will change your view of these vegetables for sure.

Beets

These are related to Swiss chard, as a matter of fact the beet greens can be used and cooked like chard. Does anyone remember eating beetroot eagerly when they were younger? I have to say that I have found a new passion for them. My favorite way is gently roasting or baking them in the oven to release their sweet flavor. This wonderful baked beetroot with apple horseradish dip is perfect for a light and quick snack. I love the sweet flavors of the beetroot combined with the slightly sharp aroma of the dip.

Jules of Stonesoup also enjoys her beets roasted. She serves up an very intriguing seared spiced beef ‘carpaccio’ with roasted beets & goats curd. She wraps her beets in foil, sprinkling them with balsamic vinegar and oil first. Then they are baked in the oven till tender.

I am going to out myself now. I really love pickled beets and was excited to find Vanessa of What Geeks Eat pickling various produce - yes she even pickles beetroot.

Turnips

Now don’t go turn up your nose at these! I’ve found a new liking to these root vegetables, when one of my friends cooked up a delicious meal. I kept wondering what she did to her mashed potatoes. It turned out they were not potatoes at all but turnips! I was blown away.

A little research made me understand that turnips are best when they are less than three inches in diameter. If using older turnips they should be peeled before cooking. You may steam, boil, mash, or roast turnips, making them very versatile. Turnip greens can be cooked like any other green.

You can imagine how excited I was to find Samantha of Novel Eats’ incredible meal of Quinoa with turnip geens and toasted almonds, and creamed turnips. She uses homegrown turnips for a satisfying and healthy dinner.

Lisa of Lisa’s Vegetarian Kitchen finds that there is nothing more satisfying than simply sautéing root vegetables. She creates a wonderfully aromatic and extremely simple carrot and turnip kinpira. She lightly seasons the vegetables with tamari sauce and nutty sesame seeds.

I have often had turnips as part of a Middle Eastern meal, where this vegetable is quite a regular visitor in stews, tajines or simple as a side. So, it was great to see Mercedes of Desert Candy enjoying a typical Iraqi dish with her her mother. She makes turnips braised in molasses and sprinkled with pepper. The sweet and peppery contrasts give the turnip an exceptional unique flavor.

Rutabagas

Turnips and rutabagas are closely related, but are different vegetables botanically. Rutabagas are larger and sweeter than turnips. They are a cross between a wild cabbage and a turnip. Rutabagas have to be peeled before cooking and can be boiled or steamed like turnips, used in soups and stews, or mashed like potatoes.

One of the dishes using rutabaga that really caught my eye was Jenny of Straight From The Farm’s very unique herbed rutabaga couscous salad. I loved the gorgeous aromatic way she prepared the dish using bacon and cheese for more texture and spiking the salad with a delicate vinaigrette made with herbs de provence, honey and a touch of cayenne pepper.

My friend Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups comes up with a fantastic vegetable side. She creates a potato and rutabaga, bacon and plum tomato veggie mix that sounds irresistibly good. The fun aspect for this dish was the fact that it was created on the spur of the moment. She seasons it with Aleepo pepper adding a perfect hot and tart finish to the dish.

Parsnips

I truly love the flavor of parsnips and often use them in soups or stews. In appearance they are similar to carrots but are tan or a dirty white color.

When cooking with parsnips you will notice that they add their lovely distinct flavor to several dishes. One I really recommend is my bulgur with vegetables and feta. Parsnips are part of the great vegetable palate making a wonderful light meal. I also used parsnips to give the beef ragout a full bodied aroma. The sweet and nutty flavor of the parsnips added a lovely highlight to the ragout.

Having a deliciously sweet flavor parsnips work well in sweet desserts or breads. An intriguing recipe is certainly one that Haalo of Cook Anything (at least) Once shares. A moist looking chocolate and parsnip loaf. I am comparing it to a carrot and chocolate cake and can really imagine how this would be a kind of delicious upgrade!

Even Sunita of Sunita’s World recently found her passion for parsnips. She serves it in a wicked garlicky roasted vegetable mix. She uses sage and red chilies to give a fantastic mix in flavor.

Sweet Potatoes

I love the fact that these so called vegetables are versatile and can be used in savory and sweet dishes. I often make sure to pick up a few sweet potatoes when I go produce shopping. We enjoy them added to regular mashed potatoes, gratins or bakes.

An interesting take on mashed potatoes is one that June from Thyme for Food creates. Her chunky banana and sweet potato mash, which complements the chili pork skewers she serves them with, incredibly well.

The notion of sweet meets spicy is one that Myamii of For the Love of Food also enjoys. She teases us with an explosive baked sweet potato with maple Jalapeño sour cream.  The sweet potato is baked in the oven until tender and then topped with a creamy, sweet and spicy dip.

I decided to go the sweet route with my sweet potato. For dessert I recommend a brilliantly flavorful sweet potato flan. The sweet mellow flavor of sweet potatoes and a toffee aroma of the caramel is truly divine and perfect as an after dinner surprise.

Pumpkins

Ever so popular and very much en vogue at this time of year, pumpkins are probably on many peoples minds. Halloween and Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it’s time to look for a few interesting recipe ideas.

Joey of 80 Breakfasts recently made an outstanding honey and thyme roasted pumkin. She drizzles the pumpkin with honey, sprinkles them with pepper and tops them of with walnuts and pili nuts. I was sold the minute I saw the recipe.

The smell of freshly baked goods always is enticing to me. So, when Kellypea of Sass & Veracity shared her recipe for Pumpkin oat muffins with pepitas, I could literally catch the aroma wafting from my notebook. The muffins are packed with spices like cinnamon, cardamom and ginger to name only a few. Pumpkin puree gives these muffins their moist texture and oats a crunchy bite.

If you like your pumpkin more savory, then you’ll find pleasure in my pumpkin risotto with shrimps. An elegant way to serve dinner. It offers wonderful flavors of the sweet pumpkin and the firm shrimp infused with the delicate hint of coriander.

So, the next time you are shopping for your produce do not walk past those root vegetables. Dare to be rooty this Autumn. I certainly am going to be. I hope that a few of these recipe ideas provide you with a good basis to start.

If you want more, FoodieView is another great source for great recipes using rutabagas, parsnips, turnips or carrots. You’ll find several great dishes to experiment and try.

Meeta is passionate about food, photography and life. On her blog What’s For Lunch, Honey? she shares her passion for cooking and pictures, all peppered with a good dose of life. Visit her for more root vegetable ideas like this quick and easy root vegetable stir fry on quinoa or an irresistible pumpkin and feta tart or even this delicious vegetable polenta gratin with manchego.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Recipe Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.