This week's Friday dinner has turned into a celebration of root vegetables. Root vegetables have a long history of saving people in times of severe famine, and are a real winter treat. One that I have long neglected.
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I have this wonderful vegetarian cookbook called "The Vegetarian Hearth: Recipes and reflections for the cold season" and in it are some neat little tidbits and histories of various foods. I stumbled upon a little section on rutabagas which included a poem that I thought I'd share (BTW, rutabagas are called swedes or swede turnip in Russia and parts of Eastern Europe).

Swedes

They have taken the gable from the roof of clay
On the long swede pile. They have let in the sun
To the white and gold and purple of curled fronds
Unsunned. It is a sight more tender-gorgeous
At the wood-corner where Winter moans and drips
Than when, in the Valley of the Tombs of Kings,
A boy crawls down into a Pharaoh's tomb
And, first of Christian men, beholds the mummy,
God and monkey, chariot and throne and vase,
Blue pottery, alabaster, and gold.

But dreamless long-dead Amen-hotep lies.
This is a dream of Winter, sweet as Spring.

Ukrainian Borscht

For every recipe that I found for borscht there were a dozen more variations. I finally decided to create a hybrid of a few different recipes. I wanted to include other root vegetables besides beets, and was in love with the idea of including tart apple in the soup. This recipe is probably not traditional, but it sure is tasty. A food processor with a shredding/grating wheel makes preparation quick and easy.

Ingredients:
3 T olive oil
2 yellow onions sliced into thin crescents
2 cloves garlic
2 carrots, shredded
1 small parsnip, shredded
1 small turnip, shredded
1 T Hungarian paprika
2 lbs.(2 large) beets, shredded
½ head of cabbage, sliced thinly
1 granny smith apple, shredded
8 cups water
2 T tomato paste
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
10 black peppercorns
3 all spice berries
1 bay leaf
1 T lemon juice
crème fraîche
chopped fresh dill

Directions:
In a large stockpot, sauté the onions, garlic, carrot, parsnip, and turnip in the olive oil until soft (12-15 minutes). Add the paprika and stir until the contents are coated and the paprika becomes fragrant (3-4 minutes). Add the beets, cabbage, apple, and water. Add the tomatoes, and then stir in the tomato paste and remaining spices. Bring soup to a boil, and then reduce the heat, simmering for 1-2 hours. Just before serving, slightly process with an immersion blender (leaving plenty of large pieces), and add lemon juice. Season with salt, pepper, and brown sugar to taste (I left this part for the guests to do). Serve with crème fraîche and dill (I mixed the two together, and used a tofu sour cream as a substitute for the vegans).

Serves 12, freezes well.

Stuffed Red Peppers

Stuffed peppers have been a comfort food for me since I was a very young child. Traditionally stuffed with ground beef and rice, this is a hearty main course. This vegetarian (vegan without the cheese) version bakes up easily, and stores well in the fridge.

Ingredients:
4 red peppers (squat wide peppers are preferable)
1 t olive oil
1 ½ cups cooked brown rice
1 pack (4 links) apple smoked sage field roast sausage links, or other vegetarian sausage (not breakfast)
1 med zucchini, finely chopped
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained reserving the juice.
2 T tomato paste
½ t dried oregano
½ t dried basil
¼ t Hungarian paprika
2 oz sharp cheese (used a dutch aged gouda), shredded

Directions:
Cut tops from peppers by cutting downwards from the top, making a nice sized hole, but leaving as much pepper as possible. Cut small hole at the base of the pepper, remove all seeds, and rinse. Rub olive oil on the outside of the peppers and set them in a glass baking dish. Bake at 350° just until bright and juicy (app. 10-15 minutes). The idea is to get the peppers somewhere between raw and slightly cooked. Meanwhile process sausage in a food processor until the consistency of ground meat, and place in mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients, except cheese, and mix thoroughly. When peppers are done, remove from oven and stuff with sausage/rice mixture. Pour the reserved tomato juice into the bottom of the baking pan so that the bottoms of the peppers are sitting in juice. Place peppers back in oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Add cheese to the tops of the peppers and bake for another 10 minutes. Serve by slicing each of the peppers in half and top with sauerkraut (or leave it on the side).

Serves 8

Tangy Shredded Rutabaga Salad

This salad recipe was taken from my Vegetarian Hearth Cookbook, and is a nice tangy compliment to sweet borscht. I added daikon and Radicchio Rosso di Treviso to the salad to give it a little more nutritional depth. If you cannot find this kind of radicchio, use another kind or use arugula.

Ingredients:
4 cups (or 1 large) rutabaga, shredded
3 scallions, trimmed and chopped (including greens)
5 radishes, thinly slices
½ cup daikon, shredded
2 cups torn romain lettuce
1 head baby radicchio rosso, torn away from the base
Dressing:
2 t Dijon mustard
1 t dry mustard
1 t salt
1 t white pepper
½ t sugar
2 small garlic cloves
4 T white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 T fresh dill

In a salad bowl, mix together the rutabaga, scallions, radishes, and daikon. Chill in the fridge. Just before serving, toss with the lettuce pieces and dressing.
Dressing:
mix together the first 7 ingredients. Gradually whisk in the oil to form an emulsion, then stir in the dill.

Serves 8

Sweet Potato Rye Bread (for the bread machine)

A dark rye would be the traditional bread to serve with borscht and stuffed peppers. However, I decided that a more colorful bread would accent the table better. This sweet potato bread (from the Bread Machine Baking cookbook) was the perfect accompaniment to the sweet and tangy dishes. It turned out a beautiful orange color, and is soft, sweet, and delicious.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup orange juice
½ cup room temperature water
1 T butter (or margarine)
3 T powdered buttermilk (optional if you are making the bread vegan)
3 T sugar
1 t salt
½ t ground nutmeg
½ t ground ginger
½ t ground mace
½ t freshly ground black pepper
½ cup baked, boiled, or canned and drained sweet potatoes, mashed (I processed mine in the blender).
Grated zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup rye flour
2 ½ cups unbleached white flour (plus up to an additional ¼ cup)
2 t yeast

Directions:
Place all ingredients in the machine, program for bread, basic bread, basic wheat, or white/whole grain, and press start. This is a typically wet dough, and should remain somewhat “sticky”. However, if the dough looks “soupy” and is not holding together, add more flour (up to ¼ cup). Remember that the dough will look tacky even after adding more flour.

Makes a 1 lb. loaf.