You may have discovered them poking out like a rather grubby giant's pencil from among the potatoes and carrots in your weekly veg box, or maybe you've seen them at the farmers' market, standing tall and proud alongside the leeks. Salsify and scorzonera are beautiful names for rather unprepossessing roots, but if they're unfamiliar to you, Iurge you to get intimate with them. They appear at a time when we're all wondering what else we could possibly do with a parsnip orhow to reinvent the cabbage, sothey offer the cook a range of delightful new possibilities.
Salsify is paler, slightly sweeter and silkier than the darker, crisperscorzonera with its dramatic, sooty skin, but you can use theminterchangeably in recipes, including these. They're also knownas the "oyster plant" and ifyou cook them with a little butter and wine, you may well discern about them a subtle hint of that esteemed bivalve.
If you fancy growing your own, they're a doddle. At River Cottage, we grow Mammoth and Giant salsifyand Russian Giant scorzonera, both of which need littlemore than free-draining soil and a bit of water in dry spells to crop reliably. Just sow the little, banana-shaped seeds directly in thesoil in April or May, 15cm apart and 1cm deep. The only tricky part isharvesting them – pulling the skinny roots unbroken from the soilis an exercise in patience.
The simplest way to prepare these lovely roots is to peel them, put them in a roasting tin, trickle over a little olive or rapeseed oil, add a few bashed garlic cloves and a bay leaf, and roast at 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for 20 minutes. Serve with a sprinkling of flaky sea salt, or follow Jane Grigson's excellent suggestion and sprinkle onsome gremolata, thatzingy southern Italian condiment made of lemon zest, finely chopped garlic and parsley. Or boil or steam them until just tender, chop small and serve with amustardy, garlicky vinaigrette andperhaps a few pieces of diced ham, rather as you might with aceleriac remoulade.
Salsify fritters
A great brunch or lunch dish, and perfect served alongside a few crisp rashersand a fried or poached egg. Makes six fritters.
300g salsify
45g unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small red chilli, finely diced
3 tbsp finely chopped coriander
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Peel and coarsely grate the salsify. Warm 20g of the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté the salsify until softened. Transfer to a bowl and mix with the garlic, chilli, coriander, egg and flour. Season generously, then form into six fritters. Warm the remaining butter and the olive oil in a frying pan overa medium heat, and cookthe fritters until golden, aboutfour minutes a side.
Salsify tempura with a spicy dipping sauce
Crisp, battered salsify is delicious with this easy dipping sauce, but it's also great served simply with a little flaky sea salt and a few lemon wedges. Serves four as astarter.
3-4 salsify or scorzonera roots
For the batter
125g plain flour
½ tsp sea salt
1 egg yolk
175ml ice-cold sparkling water
For the dipping sauce
2 medium red chillies, deseeded, membrane and seeds removed, andfinely diced
1 large garlic clove, grated
2 tbsp caster sugar
100ml cider vinegar
2 tbsp water
About 1 litre sunflower or groundnut oil for frying
First, make the dipping sauce. Putall the ingredients into a small saucepan, place over a low heat andstir until the sugar dissolves. Now raise the heat a little, bring upto a simmer and cook until reduced and syrupy, about five minutes. Pour into a small bowl andset to one side until you are ready toserve.
Fill a medium-large saucepan withwater, bring to a boil and cook the salsify for five minutes. Drain, refresh in cold water, then rub off the skins and cutthe salsify into 4cm pieces. Whisk the ingredients for the batter – don't worry ifit turnsout a bit lumpy.
Heat 10cm of oil in a deep, heavy-based saucepan until it registers 180C on a frying thermometer or acube of bread goes brown in 30 seconds. Dip the salsify in the batterand deep-fry a few pieces at atime until crisp and golden, about a minute. Serve at once with the spicy dipping sauce. alongside.
Salsify gratin
The perfect accompaniment to aSunday roast (incidentally, this isdifferent from the recipe I wrote for this magazine in Christmas 2007). Serves four.
35g unsalted butter, softened, plusextra for greasing
Juice of 1 lemon
850g salsify (about 8 roots)
1 litre vegetable stock
150ml dry white wine
60g kale (or cabbage), washed and finely shredded
25g plain flour
150ml double cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
75g grated cheddar or other hard, well-flavoured cheese
50g coarse white breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/ gasmark 6 and butter a gratin dishabout 26cm in length. Put thelemonjuice into a large bowl along withsome cold water. One byone, peel each salsify root, cut into 4cm x 1cm batons and drop straight into the lemon water to prevent discolouring. Repeat with all the roots.
When the salsify has been prepared, drain and transfer to asaucepan along with the stock and wine. Bring up toasimmer and cook for five minutes, until tender but still with abit of bite.
While the salsify is cooking, put the kale in a large pan witha centimetre or two of water and cook for about three minutes, until wilted. Drain the salsify, reserving the stock, and set aside. Return the stock to the pan and simmer until reduced by half.
Meanwhile, mash together the butter and flour with a fork. When the stock has reduced, keep it simmering and add the flour paste in little nuggets, whisking all the time. Keep whisking until the sauce thickens to the consistency ofsingle cream. Stir in the double cream and remove from the heat. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Lay the salsify and kale in the gratin dish, and pour over the creamy sauce. Combine the cheese with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden.
