The root of the problem - Resolution No. 6

This morning when I sat down to work on a shopping list for the week's menus (after a nice trip to the gym and yoga - Resolution No. 14), I thought I would start to tackle some of Resolution No. 6.

I chatted with a friend the other day who gave me some suggestions for ingredients he thought I should use. Of course, some of them were clearly just meant to poke fun at my picky eating habits - like black squid ink, which I will never eat willingly. He also nixed my idea to use saffron or other herbs and seasonings as ingredients. He said they didn't count.

But there were a few items he mentioned that were already on my tentative list, such as quinoa.

I found a quinoa recipe I will use later this week, but a lazy Sunday afternoon seemed like the perfect time to roast up some root vegetables I've never tried before. The first on my list was kohlrabi, but unfortunately I couldn't find it anywhere in my grocery store. Perhaps it was listed under another name - like how fennel is sometimes called anise. I realized that using some out of the ordinary ingredients may require a little bit of shopping around.

Luckily, Nob Hill had all the other root vegetables I wanted. The medley included veggies I've used plenty of times such as onions, carrots, parsnips and turnips. The ones I haven't cooked before included celery root and beets, red and golden. I've eaten beets plenty of times, but usually just out of a can on top of a salad.

Despite some time spent washing and peeling the vegetables, the prep time was pretty quick. I bought a mandolin slicer before the holidays and it worked out well to slice up the round vegetables into 1/4" thick slices. The vegetables were tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, with sprigs of rosemary, thyme and sage thrown on top.

The vegetables were served with a pot roast. The celery root has a slight celery flavor and came out of the oven with a smooth texture. The red beets had an earthy flavor and the golden beets were sweet.

One ingredient down, four to go. So far this resolution has been tasty.

Photo by Melissa Flores

Roasted root vegetables include carrots, parsnips, red and golden beets, onion and celery root.