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Celebrating root veg

Tasty Jerusalem artichokes
Tasty Jerusalem artichokes

I love, LOVE all root vegetables, but some I love more than others. My top favourites are Jerusalem artichokes and beetroot, but all the rest come a close second.

I have to admit that I am not a fan of parsnips when roasted with added sweetness, usually honey. Quite why people think that parsnips need extra sweetness baffles me. Parsnips are a very sweet root, and they need no added sweetness during cooking.

I love roast parsnips, but I also love them browned, with carrots, in an oxtail stew – their sweetness contributes greatly to the flavour of the rich oxtail stew. And celeriac, when cooked in simmering water till tender, then drained and steamed dry, and whizzed in a processor with a generous amount of butter, and salt, black pepper and nutmeg makes an excellent substitute for potato mash.

Celeriac is particularly good with fish and with chicken. Leeks are so useful, as well as being delicious. They make into an excellent puff pastry tart, as in one of the recipes today. This can then be the main course, useful for when you are feeding those who don’t eat meat or fish, or the tart can be a first course.

Jerusalem artichokes cooked, and then whizzed to a puree and baked in buttered ramekins is the second recipe today. It is delicious as a first course, with some hollandaise sauce, or as an accompanying vegetable to a main course of chicken, meat or fish, the flavour of the artichokes is equally good with either.

When cooking root vegetables, fresh root ginger is particularly good as a complimentary flavour. Just peel off the skin, chop the ginger and fry it with the chopped onions or shallots for a soup or puree of carrots or parsnips.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE TIMBALE WITH SEVILLE ORANGE AND CHIVE SAUCE

SERVES 4

1lb/450g artichokes

Half a pint/300ml single cream

3 large eggs

Salt, pepper, a good grating of nutmeg

Thoroughly butter the inside of four ramekins, and put them into a roasting pan. Peel the artichokes and steam them till tender. Cool. Whiz the soft, cooled artichokes in a food processor, adding the cream and eggs, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour this into the buttered ramekins. Pour nearly boiling water into the roasting tin to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins, and bake in a moderate heat, 350F 180C gas 4, until the timbales feel firm when pressed with your finger in the centre, about 25 minutes. They will rise slightly, and look pale golden brown.

Take the roasting tin out of the oven, and leave to sit for 10 minutes. Then, run a knife around the inside of each ramekin, and shake the timbale out onto a warmed plate.

FOR THE SAUCE

3 large egg yolks beaten well to mix in a Pyrex bowl

6oz/175g butter cut into 6 bits

1tbsp white wine vinegar

Finely grated rind of 1 orange and its juice

Small bunch of chives chopped very finely

Half tsp salt

Put the Pyrex bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and stir well and continuously – I use a flat whisk for stirring adding the pieces of butter one at a time and only adding the next bit when the last has melted and been incorporated.

Grate the orange rind and squeeze the juice into a small saucepan and gently warm the contents – this liquid should be nowhere near boiling, just warm.

When all the butter is incorporated into the thick sauce, carefully – so as not to steam-scald your arm – lift the bowl off the saucepan, and stir in the warmed orange rind and juice and wine vinegar.

Stir in the finely chopped chives, and season with the half teaspoon of salt. Keep this sauce warm by pouring it into a small thermos. It will keep its heat without curdling. Serve, spooned over half of each artichoke timbale.

CREAMY LEEK TART

SERVES 6

FOR THE PASTRY BASE

4oz/120g butter, cut into bits, the butter hard from the fridge

6oz/175g plain flour plus 1tsp icing sugar – this gives a good texture to the pastry but won’t taste sweet

2tsp dried pink peppercorns

1 level tsp salt

Put the bits of butter, flour and icing sugar into a food processor and whiz till like fine crumbs. Then add the salt and pink peppercorns and whiz again, just till the peppercorns are broken down.

Firmly press this mixture over the base and up the sides of a flan dish measuring 9in/22cm diameter. Put this into the fridge for at least an hour, then bake straight into a moderate oven, 350F 180C gas 4, for 15-20 minutes – if the sides slip down towards the base, with a metal teaspoon scrape them firmly back into place.

The pastry should be very slightly coming away from the metal sides of the flan tin. When cooked, take it from the oven and cool.

FOR THE FILLING

6 medium sized leeks, trimmed at either end and then sliced finely

2tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

1tsp salt, about 15 grinds of black pepper

Half pint/300ml single cream

2 large eggs plus 2 yolks beaten together

A grating of nutmeg

1tbsp of finely grated parmesan cheese

In a saute pan, over moderate – not too hot – heat the olive oil and fry the finely sliced onions, seasoning them with freshly ground nutmeg, salt and black pepper. Leeks cook quicker than do onions, just fry the sliced leeks till they are soft, but still retain their colour, which they will do providing the heat beneath the pan isn’t too hot.

When the leeks are soft, about 7-10 minutes, take the pan off the heat and cool.

Mix the single cream into the beaten eggs and yolks, and the grated parmesan. Add the cooled cooked leeks, mix well, then pour into the cooled baked pastry.

Bake in the same moderate temperature as for the pastry, for 20-25 minutes, or until when you gently shake the flan dish, the centre barely wobbles – the last part to set is the centre.

Serve at room temperature, – it is almost impossible to cut a neat slice if the tart is served hot from the oven – and this is good with a salad of mixed leaves with a mustardy vinaigrette.