Wednesday, October 22, 2008

the first taste of winter

This morning, while it was pitch black outside and I was dreading going outside to scrape ice off of my car, my mind wandered to what else, but food. Dinner for tonight, to be exact.

On the kitchen table sat: two rutabegas, a pumpkin, some onions, and part of a bottle of wine. Cabbage in the fridge. Not inspiring to some perhaps, but I am looking forward to dinner tonight:

Roasted Rutabega:

Cut rutabega into 1/2 inch cubes. If they're bigger they take longer to bake.
Coat with:
orange juice concentrate
dijon mustard
olive oil
salt
pepper
other spices, as you desire

Spread onto a baking sheet or two they brown better if they aren't too thickly spread on the sheet. Put in 400 degreee oven and bake! Baking time depends on how much you have.




This recipe is really best when a variety of root vegetables are used: rutabega, turnip, beets, sweet potato, yam, parsnips. The beets have to be cooked on a separate try from the other veggies or everything turns pink, but here's what it looks like:


and here's what they look like when they're all cooked:

When you use all of the different kinds of vegetables, even if you only use one of each, you end up with quite a lot. Luckily these are fantastic left over.


Baked Pumpkin:

Cut pumpkin in half (small pie pumpkin)
Place flat sides down in baking dish with 1/2 inch of water.

Throw in oven with rutabegas.

Eat with salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.

Braised Cabbage:

Cut cabbage into wedges (red is better, but greens usually cheaper, so take your pick)
brown briefly in a large pot with oil
add some red wine and close the lid.

cook until done.

Delicious winter foods. Delicious.