Experience Life. Healthy. Happy. For Real.

experiencelifemag.com

Root Vegetables

Bring color and warmth to your table with autumn's earthy harvest.

By Cary Neff

October 2008

Food Basics
Nutritional Know-How
Eat Up!
Kitchen Tricks

Just as the leafy salads of summer fade away, autumn offers up a hearty selection of satisfying root vegetables. Earthy and nutritious, these long-storing delights are easy to prepare — and they bring warm comfort to your dinner table.

Food Basics
The edibles we call “vegetables” are harvested from many different parts of plants — tubers, roots, bulbs, stems, stalks, leaves or flowers. What we call “root vegetables” are actually a mix of tubers (potatoes, sunchokes), tuberous roots (sweet potatoes), taproots (carrots, parsnips), taproots/ stems (beets, celeriac, radishes, rutabagas, turnips), and bulbs (garlic, onions, shallots). Root vegetables will keep for several weeks (carrots, garlic, onions, radishes, beets) or up to two months (potatoes, rutabagas, turnips), making them a reliable and economical choice. For the best textures and flavors, select firm, fresh-looking, brightly colored root vegetables. Avoid those with shriveled skin, and do not eat greened potatoes, which contain abnormally high alkaloid levels.

Nutritional Know-How
Most root vegetables are good sources of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that also helps your body absorb iron. They also offer a range of other vitamins, phytonutrients and minerals: potassium (potatoes, radishes and parsnips), calcium (turnips), complex carbohydrates (potatoes), beta-carotene (carrots), vitamin B6 (potatoes), phosphor (turnips), folate (radishes), magnesium (turnips) and vitamin B (beets). (For more on beets, see “Beets” in the June 2007 archives at experiencelifemag.com.) Combine them in dishes for a healthy and varied mix of nutrients. Because most root vegetables are filling and relatively starchy, they make a great substitute for grain-based dishes like pasta and white rice.

Eat Up!

Roasting root vegetables brings out their sweetness. Prepare a mix of any of the following: carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, beets or potatoes. First scrub, then peel if necessary (see Kitchen Tricks, below, for tips). Cut into desired shape and size (fast-cooking vegetables, like potatoes, should be cut larger than slow-cooking carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas and beets), toss with olive oil or melted butter, then add salt and pepper. Roast at 450 degrees F for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Assertive fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme nicely complement root vegetables, but they should be added during the last 15 minutes of cooking to prevent them from burning.
To thicken and brighten puréed soups, add potatoes or parsnips when cooking the rest of the ingredients. Cook until veggies are softened, then purée entire soup. This addition replaces the need for a roux (the flour and butter mix often used to thicken soups and sauces) or cream.
Elevate simple mashed potatoes by combining with parsnips, carrots, turnips or sunchokes before mashing.
Boil, steam or bake fingerling potatoes and drizzle with olive oil. Then add sea salt, ground black pepper and fresh herbs.

Kitchen Tricks

Store root vegetables (except potatoes) loosely covered in the refrigerator, where they will keep for three to four weeks. Potatoes are better off in a cool, dry drawer or basket (remove any plastic bags!).
The skins of root vegetables hold many of their nutrients. Very young, fresh roots like beets and turnips are fine to enjoy with their nutritious skin intact, but older, larger, thick-skinned root vegetables require peeling.
Avoid cooking turnips in aluminum or iron pots. Their flesh contains anthoxanthin pigments that interact with these metals. Though still edible, the turnips will turn an unappealing grayish color.

Chef Cary Neff is the president of the consulting firm Culinary Innovations and the author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious Cuisine (Sourcebooks, 2002).

To learn how to prepare Roasted Root Vegetables, Pear-Parsnip Soup and Celeriac Salad, check out the Web Extras at the top right of this page. For more insight into what root vegetables have to offer, see "Basic Foods" in the November 2005 archives.

Root Vegetables

Bring color and warmth to your table with autumn's earthy harvest.

By Cary Neff

Inspired Kitchen Department,
October 2008

Food Basics (Back to Top)
The edibles we call “vegetables” are harvested from many different parts of plants — tubers, roots, bulbs, stems, stalks, leaves or flowers. What we call “root vegetables” are actually a mix of tubers (potatoes, sunchokes), tuberous roots (sweet potatoes), taproots (carrots, parsnips), taproots/ stems (beets, celeriac, radishes, rutabagas, turnips), and bulbs (garlic, onions, shallots). Root vegetables will keep for several weeks (carrots, garlic, onions, radishes, beets) or up to two months (potatoes, rutabagas, turnips), making them a reliable and economical choice. For the best textures and flavors, select firm, fresh-looking, brightly colored root vegetables. Avoid those with shriveled skin, and do not eat greened potatoes, which contain abnormally high alkaloid levels.

Nutritional Know-How (Back to Top)
Most root vegetables are good sources of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that also helps your body absorb iron. They also offer a range of other vitamins, phytonutrients and minerals: potassium (potatoes, radishes and parsnips), calcium (turnips), complex carbohydrates (potatoes), beta-carotene (carrots), vitamin B6 (potatoes), phosphor (turnips), folate (radishes), magnesium (turnips) and vitamin B (beets). (For more on beets, see “Beets” in the June 2007 archives at experiencelifemag.com.) Combine them in dishes for a healthy and varied mix of nutrients. Because most root vegetables are filling and relatively starchy, they make a great substitute for grain-based dishes like pasta and white rice.

Eat Up! (Back to Top)

Roasting root vegetables brings out their sweetness. Prepare a mix of any of the following: carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, beets or potatoes. First scrub, then peel if necessary (see Kitchen Tricks, below, for tips). Cut into desired shape and size (fast-cooking vegetables, like potatoes, should be cut larger than slow-cooking carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas and beets), toss with olive oil or melted butter, then add salt and pepper. Roast at 450 degrees F for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Assertive fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme nicely complement root vegetables, but they should be added during the last 15 minutes of cooking to prevent them from burning.
To thicken and brighten puréed soups, add potatoes or parsnips when cooking the rest of the ingredients. Cook until veggies are softened, then purée entire soup. This addition replaces the need for a roux (the flour and butter mix often used to thicken soups and sauces) or cream.
Elevate simple mashed potatoes by combining with parsnips, carrots, turnips or sunchokes before mashing.
Boil, steam or bake fingerling potatoes and drizzle with olive oil. Then add sea salt, ground black pepper and fresh herbs.

Kitchen Tricks (Back to Top)

Store root vegetables (except potatoes) loosely covered in the refrigerator, where they will keep for three to four weeks. Potatoes are better off in a cool, dry drawer or basket (remove any plastic bags!).
The skins of root vegetables hold many of their nutrients. Very young, fresh roots like beets and turnips are fine to enjoy with their nutritious skin intact, but older, larger, thick-skinned root vegetables require peeling.
Avoid cooking turnips in aluminum or iron pots. Their flesh contains anthoxanthin pigments that interact with these metals. Though still edible, the turnips will turn an unappealing grayish color.

Chef Cary Neff is the president of the consulting firm Culinary Innovations and the author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious Cuisine (Sourcebooks, 2002).