Winter brings new vegetables
They appear in vegetable bins this time of year. Thick,
wrinkled, dark greens that look like something that might have been
plucked as a weed, Carrot-like roots with broad shoulders and a
sickly pale ivory color and their seasonal brethren look nothing
like more familiar vegetables that appear through the rest of the
year.
Welcome to winter vegetables.
Winter brings new vegetables
They appear in vegetable bins this time of year. Thick, wrinkled, dark greens that look like something that might have been plucked as a weed, Carrot-like roots with broad shoulders and a sickly pale ivory color and their seasonal brethren look nothing like more familiar vegetables that appear through the rest of the year.
Welcome to winter vegetables.
Thanks to cargo jets and agricultural networks that jump continents, supermarkets are full of grapes, tomatoes, basil and a host of other summer staples all year long. It was not so long ago that winter meant two things: canned produce or winter vegetables.
But there’s a lot to recommend eating whatever is in season. First, winter vegetables are likely to have taken a much shorter trip to the produce department, meaning they’re likely to be fresher.
Second, many people just naturally crave what’s in season. Just as citrus starts coming into its own, our fruit bowl fills with oranges and tangerines.
The same can be said of winter vegetables.
Those pale, broad-shouldered carrots? Parsnips. Set aside the goofy-sounding name for a minute. Peeled, chunked and boiled in lightly salted water until tender, parsnips can be mashed with a bit of butter, a splash of milk and a dusting of nutmeg if you like. What looks a little like mashed potatoes has a full, mild flavor and a sweetness that could qualify parsnips for the dessert hall of fame.
Chard and beet tops are closely related enough to be interchangeable. A few nights ago, I stripped the leaves from the stalks of a bunch of chard. After slicing the stems, I cooked them in water until they started to become tender. After draining, I heated a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan, and added a small handful each of raisins and pine nuts, stirring them until the raisins puffed and the pine nuts started to turn golden. Into the pot went the chard, and it cooked for a few minutes until it was wilted. The colorful bowl of greens (we used red chard) was finished with a splash of good vinegar and a little salt.
Dandelion greens (we purchase ours at the supermarket rather than foraging from the lush crop in our garden) are a favorite winter salad. After removing the tough lower stems, we wash the greens thoroughly, since they can be gritty.
After tearing them into the salad bowl, they get dressed with crisp bits of bacon, a grated hard-boiled egg and an olive oil-balsamic vinegar dressing. It’s too simple a dish to call for a recipe. The bacon and egg temper the bitter edge of the dandelions. The salad somehow tastes of its season in a way iceberg lettuce in January never will.
Mustard greens are another favorite. The deeply crinkled leaves surround a tougher central stalk. After cutting away the lower few inches of stem, we leave the stalks attached, just chopping the leaves before tossing them with two cloves of chopped garlic and an equal amount of chopped ginger root into a hot pan containing two tablespoons of olive oil. When the greens are wilted and nearly tender, two tablespoons of soy sauce and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes seals the deal.
These are closer to ideas rather than the “cook for 5 minutes, then add ¼ cup of this and 1 teaspoon of that” recipes. And that feels right for winter vegetables. Even though San Benito County is blessed with a benign climate, dark, damp days invite puttering in a warm kitchen.
