Required Reading: Roots - Gardenista
A year ago our family adopted a diet invented in the 1920s that bans refined sugar, all grains, and starchy vegetables whose carbs are deemed too complex. Root vegetables emerged as nutritious and filling staples anything tastes great roasted in olive oil for 45 minutes right Then one afternoon at... ...Philippa Roberts a jewelry and home shop in Oakland I spied the enormous hardback Roots The Definitive Compendium with More Than 225 Recipes Photographs from Roots except where noted. Written by Diane Morgan with gorgeous photographs by Antonis Achilleos, Roots not only collects recipes for 28 vegetables from Andean tubers to yuca, but also details their nomenclature, nutritional profiles, botanical distinctions, storage requirements, and lore. Did you know for example that the Romans were the first to cultivate beets for their roots not their leaves Or that burdock root those... ...crunchy carrot like roots often found in spicy tuna rolls was the inspiration for Velcro thanks to the hook and loop structure of its seeds Photograph by Sarah Horowitz. Don’t let the fun facts fool you. She includes recipes for breakfast dishes Aracely s Sweet Potato Waffles soups Vietnamese Pork and Taro Stew salads Daikon and Apple... ...Slaw appetizers Pancetta Wrapped Baby Turnips shown Above condiments Wasabi Mayonnaise entrées Lamb and Carrot Curry and desserts Three Layer Parsnip Cake Photograph by Sarah Horowitz. Even beverages get a shot here. My 13-year-old drank it down and pronounced it “yum.” (My husband and I felt the same way, though for the record, dark rum made it even better.) Of all the specimens that Roots inspired me to purchase, celery root–also called celeriac, knob celery, or turnip-rooted celery–was the homeliest. But sliced paper-thin and layered with Parmigiano-Reggiano, thyme-infused homemade yogurt, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then topped with Gruyí¨re, it became a tangy and sophisticated gratin. Morgan celebrates many roots that some cooks may consider exotic (malanga, anyone? ), but she doesn’t get lazy when it comes to the run-of-the-mill stuff. To test the recipes, I was able to easily find the vegetables at my local market. Roots is not a vegan or even vegetarian cookbook and the recipes certainly aren t low cal Gardeners might even feel inspired... Photograph by Adam Horowitz. ...to sow some of these subterranean gems themselves to that end Morgan has included a list of root vegetable and seed sources Diane Morgan, author of 17 cookbooks, lives in Portland, Oregon.