Never sure what to do with familiar sounding root vegetables that I didn’t grow up eating (turnips, rutabagas, parsnips) I came up with this technique after seeing something similar on Emeril Green.  The variety of color, flavor and texture helps me appreciate the unique vegetables available during the winter, and makes me less skeptical of cooking seasonally when my garden has finally succumbed to

endless frost.

I dug up these parsnips just before the temperatures really took a dive.   The core was a bit woody, but once quartered and cored, they were deliciously sweet and complex.  I planted them in just one square foot of the garden, and they were growing side by side, almost touching.  A very productive square foot of dirt.

honey-glazed root vegetables

If you want, you can do the broiling ahead of time, toss with the honey butter and rosemary and finish the cooking just before mealtime, that way you can turn your attention to preparing another dish.

The one vegetable I always make sure I include is sweet potatoes.  Although the recipe would be fine without them, I like a few extra sweet bites every now and then, as well as their familiar taste.

5 lbs. mixed root vegetables and/or winter squash (whatever is available, such as sweet potatoes, celery root, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, turnips, rutabaga, pumpkin, butternut squash)
olive oil, just enough to coat
salt and fresh ground pepper
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons honey (eyeball it -same volume as the butter)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

Scrub the vegetables and chop into 1 inch pieces.  Preheat the broiler.  Thinly coat the vegetables with olive oil, and toss with salt and pepper.  Place in a broiler-safe dish lined with parchment and set on the second shelf of the oven.  Broil, turning the vegetables as they pick up nice coloring.  In the meantime, whip the honey and butter together.  When all the vegetables are browned, remove from the oven, turn down the heat to 450, and toss with the honey butter and sprinkle the rosemary.  Taste for seasoning.  Return to the oven and let the vegetables continue to cook until tender, or if already tender after broiling, cook just 5 minutes more until the flavors meld.

It’s a great time to invest in a bottle of roasted nut oil to use through the fall and winter.  Just a drizzle transforms simple baked acorn squash, but it’s also good with sweet potatoes, in a creamy cauliflower-apple soup and in vinaigrettes.  Just make sure you add after cooking to preserve the full nutty flavor,  Hazelnut and walnut are two of my favorites.

walnut maple acorn squash: Cut acorn squash in half through the stem.  Scrape out seeds and stringy bits.  Fill each cavity with 1/2 tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of maple syrup and a tiny pinch of cinnamon (I know you’ll want to add more cinnamon, but let the other flavors shine through this time.) Place face up on a jelly roll pan.  Pour water in the bottom of the pan for steam- as much as you can reasonably transport to the oven.  Bake at 400 for an 1 hour 15 minutes, checking after 1 hour.  You want the entire squash soft and creamy and some caramelization around the rim.  Remove from the oven, and drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of walnut oil into each maple-butter pool.  Brush the liquid all over the flesh of the squash until it is completely absorbed.

A couple things are left in my garden.  Some leafy greens and herbs mostly.  I didn’t get enough use out of my tarragon this summer, but a week or two ago I made tarragon vinegar and my family went through a bottle before it even had time to cure properly.  Luckily my mother-in-law makes vinegar from wine that my father-in-law produces.  So I made up several more large bottles to take us through the year.  The vinegar tastes bright like summer, and I’m sure it will be welcome when we tire of the cold.

I’m not one for experimenting with flavored oils and vinegar, although maybe I should be.  I never think of using them when I’m following a recipe, and so they haven’t become a part of my improvisational technique either.

But tarragon vinegar is  different.  I tried it first at my grandma’s house (who has a keen palate and is peppy enough to land a husband 30 years her senior.)  It was one of those “oh!” moments.  And now it’s my favorite vinegar for a simple green salad.

So I was making tarragon vinegar, and my mother-in-law decides to try a complex recipe in which I had no interest.  But today when I tasted it, I had to hand it to her, it smelled like I was sitting at an Italian restaurant, having my server freshly grind black pepper onto my dish.  I hope she lets me use a little to experiment.

tarragon vinegar- empty a bottle of white whine vinegar into a clean bowl.  Rinse and pat dry enough fresh tarragon sprigs to fill the bottle.  Use as much as will fit easily.  Pour the vinegar back into the bottle with a funnel.  Cover and let sit 2 weeks.  Repeat the process, taking the old tarragon sprigs and replacing them with a couple of fresh ones (optional).  Use in a vinaigrette, or simply with olive oil, salt and pepper to dress a salad.

Italian herb vinegar- follow instructions for tarragon vinegar, but instead of tarragon, for every 6 cups of vinegar add 1 peeled garlic clove, 3 sprigs fresh basil, 4 sprigs of thyme, 1 sprig oregano and 25 nasturtium blossoms.   Cover and let set aside for 2 weeks.  Remove herbs, replace with a sprig or two of fresh herbs.

Last year before the neighbors cut down their apple trees (sigh), I went onto their property without asking (maybe that’s why), and picked up fallen apples, cut off the bad spots and made the most delicious applesauce I’d ever tried: just apples, fresh lemon juice, and a few gratings of fresh ginger.  I came into some more apples and made it again, this time, I had run out of lemons and fresh ginger, so I used bottled lemon juice and dried ginger.  Such a sad pot of applesauce.

As much as I had been looking forward this year to repeating that first applesauce I had made, I bought some nice plums at the farmer’s market and threw them in.  At first I regretted it.  When it was hot, the flavors were off with a strange aftertaste.  I added a little honey with the lemon juice and ginger.  I still wasn’t impressed, and resigned myself to being a purest.  The next day when I pulled it out of the refrigerator though, it was changed: full of flavor, no unpleasant aftertaste.  It actually tasted quite beautiful.  The plums added an end-of-summer flavor that bridged the fall flavor of the apples.  A very timely applesauce that made me realize there’s lots of room for improvisation with top-notch ingredients.

plum applesauce
I left the the plums unpeeled (they become tender), but you can peel them if you like.  Cut an X across the bottom, and place in boiling water for 30-60 seconds.  The peel should slip off.

5 lbs. cooking apples, peeled, cored, chopped
2 lbs. plums, peeled (optional), stones removed, chopped
honey or brown sugar, to taste
fresh lemon juice, to taste
fresh ginger, to taste

Put the apples and plums in a large pot and add an inch or two of water.  Cook over medium heat until the fruit begins to break down, stirring and adding more water as needed.  Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer until the fruit is cooked through, mashing with the back of a spoon for a chunky texture, or putting in a food processor for a smooth texture.  Add the ginger, and continue cooking five more minutes.  Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature.  Add the honey and lemon juice to taste, refrigerate and serve chilled.

The nasturtium plants have taken over a portion our backyard, climbing their way onto our deck with hundreds of blooms and even more beautifully dark and circular leaves.  We grew the nasturtium for the edible blossoms, but a month or so ago, I found out the leaves could be used like watercress.  Sort of.  They are deliciously peppery and tender -even the larger leaves- as such, but their shape is tricky to dress as a salad.  When left whole or even torn, the flat shape creates too many layers to permeate, and shredding them didn’t make for a very attractive salad.

But the leaves are perfect for stuffing.  No inconvenient protrusions to tuck in like grape leaves, nor tough ribs to cut out like cabbage.  Tender enough to eat raw, but sturdy enough to contain rigid fillings.  Pretty and easy.  Perfect finger food for parties, which always seem to lack enough green options.

If you didn’t grown them, nasturtium leaves might be hard to find, but they are incredible easy to grow from seed for next year.

While there are plenty of options to wrap, you can’t go wrong with fruit, cheese and herbs.  I used Honeycrisp apple slices, Gruyere and tarragon, tying up the parcel with chives and serving a walnut vinaigrette for dipping, but next time I might try pears, blue cheese and  fennel fronds.  Both would go well with several nut oils: hazelnut, pistachio, pecan.  Let me know what you come up with.

nasturtium leaf, apple and Gruyere salad parcels with walnut vinaigrette dip
If you prefer, you can omit the tarragon leaves in the parcels and use a tarragon vinegar in the dip.

20 nasturtium leaves, washed and patted dry
1 Honeycrisp apple, quartered, cored and sliced into at least 20 thin slices, tossed with lemon juice if not serving right away.
20 thin slices of Gruyere cheese, about 1/2 inch wide
1-2 sprigs tarragon (optional)
10-15 chives
walnut vinaigrette dip, recipe follows

Place a nasturtium leaf stem-side up, dark side down on your work surface.  Just above where the leaf was cut from the stem place a slice of cheese and a slice of apple, letting the apple stick up just above the top of the leaf.  Tuck in three of the thin leaves of the tarragon, one at the bottom, and two at the top.  Fold the bottom of the nasturtium leaf up over the apple, then roll from side to side.  One third of the way up tie a piece of chive around the parcel. Continue with the remainder of the leaves and serve on a platter with a small bowl of the dip.

for the walnut vinaigrette dip:
2 tablespoons sherry or tarragon vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mayonnaise (to emulsify)
2 tablespoons walnut oil
4 tablespoons olive oil (doesn’t need to be extra-virgen)

In a medium bowl, place the vinegar and salt, and whisk until the salt is dissolved.  Add the mayonnaise and blend.  Slowly add the walnut oil, whisking until completely emulsified after each addition.  Continue with the olive oil, until all is incorporated.