Roots, Shoots & Everything Good

Mom, Yanxian and I are rapidly taking up this whole eating-greens-for-dinner-is-good-for-you idea, so here I am, with yet another salad recipe. Beetroots are officially my favourite vegetable for salads now. If you haven't tried roast beets from the previous recipe, you are seriously missing out. So I set off today to procure even more beets to stock up and roast. And as things would have it, we now have a roast root-based salad in the making.


Let me introduce this other black horse of the vegetable world - parsnip. I was introduced to this pleasant little root by my dear friend Montyelm, whom I believe made them into chips. I gave it a try, and believe me, it was like when Columbus discovered America. Parsnips have since never failed to make an appearance in any of my stews. They have this unbelievable crunch and unique flavour. Think carrot without the carroty, earthy taste, infused with a little parsley and the perk of raw celery. I can't really tell you what parsnip tastes like, until you try it yourself. And roast parsnip? Mmmmm!


Roasting vegetables is easy. You skin them, slice them up, drizzle with a little olive oil to keep them nice and moist, grind a little salt and pepper on them and chuck them into the oven. Heck, roasting makes even carrots taste nice. As an aside, we found baby vegetables for sale at this posh supermarket at the Ion Orchard. Those will be next in the oven when I do get to lay my paws on them.

I tried something new for the dressing - a balsamic-garlic vinaigrette. Sick of the unknown brands of balsamic that basically just got my tastebuds going haywire, I finally got hold of some Aceta Balsamico di Modena. Granted, it's nowhere near the artisan Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, but at least this doesn't cost $100 for 100mls. (If you can even find it locally, that is..) Still, it's a huge improvement over the crap I used to use. I must say, after tasting good balsamic, I might venture to spend a little more on Condimento-grade balsamic one day. Just maybe.

Hope you will enjoy this one -

Root Salad with Balsamic-Garlic Vinaigrette




Ingredients (serves 6)

100g white button mushrooms, quartered
1 medium beetroot
Half a carrot
1 medium parsnip
1 small butterhead lettuce
1 cup wild rocket (arugula)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil (extra virgin is good)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard or Dijonnaise
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
Salt & Pepper

For the dressing, put the balsamic vinegar in a round bowl. While whisking it vigorously, slowly pour in the olive oil until emulsified. Add the garlic powder slowly, until well-distributed, and whisk in the Dijon mustard to keep the dressing in an emulsified state. (Alternatively, use egg for the same purpose, but for safety reasons I prefer not to.)

Preheat oven to 200C. Skin the root vegetables and cut into slices no more than 1cm thick. Lay them on a baking dish, and sprinkle generously with the dried tarragon. After a good grind of coarse salt and a drizzle of olive oil, chuck them in the oven. Cooking time ranges from 20-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the slices, but you want to get them just tender and not limp. Cool them when cooked, and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Toss the salad with dressing, and top with the roasted roots to present. Finish off with a generous scattering of salt and pepper. Once again, for the carnivores out there, feel free to add a portion of boiled chicken breast meat, skinless and shredded.