This Month's Recipe...
February – Raw Roots
From page 370 of The New English Table.
Four vibrant salads made from grated vegetables: parsnip and apple; beetroot; celeriac and broad bean; and swede. Eat them with charcuterie, boiled bacon or any of the potted meats and fish on pages 108, 296, 325, 356 and 452 of The New English Table.
I like to eat these rich little salads, which the French call rémoulade, with other vegetables – they match the Potato and Fresh Cheese in an Olive Oil Pastry Pie on page 339 of TNET well. Good food for feeding the masses. An electric grating attachment to the mixer helps enormously. Save washing up time by making the beetroot salad last.
Serves 10 as part of a meal with cured meat or the potato pie on page 339 of TNET.
600ml/1 pint single cream
For the parsnip and apple:
2 medium parsnips, peeled and grated
3 crisp, fibrous apples (such as Cox's), cored and grated
juice of 1 lemon
leaves from 4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
10 cornichons (baby gherkins), sliced into small rounds
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the celeriac and broad bean:
1 large celeriac, peeled and grated
400g broad beans, blanched in boiling water for 1 minute, then pinched from their skins (or use frozen beans, which do not need blanching)
2 tbsp capers, washed and chopped
leaves from 4 sprigs of tarragon, washed and chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the swede:
1 large swede, peeled and grated
2 carrots, scraped and grated
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp unsalted shelled pistachio nuts, toasted in a dry frying pan, then chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted with the pistachios
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the beetroot:
3 fresh, crisp beetroot, peeled and grated
leaves from 4 sprigs of dill
10 pink peppercorns, crushed
sea salt
Put all the ingredients for each rémoulade except the salt and pepper into separate serving bowls. Pour 150ml/¼ pint of cream over each and mix well. If the salad is too stiff, add a little water. Taste each and add salt if necessary. Add black pepper where applicable. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
