Root vegetables at Pete's Greens

By Melissa Pasanen
Free Press Correspondent

February 13, 2007
CRAFTSBURY -- It was minus 8 degrees outside, but the beets, carrots and turnips at Pete's Greens were all cozy in a dark and humid 33-degree refrigerated room at one end of the old dairy barn. Below them, in an old root cellar, potatoes were wintering in slightly warmer temperatures.

In the dimness, farmer Pete Johnson dug his hand into the white plastic sacks piled on the floor and showed off a few samples of the roughly 70 tons of storage crops he and his crew harvested last fall from eight of their 22 cultivated acres.

"This is a golden beet," he said, pulling out a dirty, round ball and scraping it off to reveal sunrise-tinted skin. "We store everything dirty and wash them right before we distribute them," he explained. "It helps them feel like they're alive."

From another bag he extracted a dirt-encrusted, knobby, gnarly celery root, also known as celeriac. "They're such homely things," he observed, "but they're great in a cream of celery root soup."

The dirt factor was not helping to glamorize a class of vegetables that is often regarded as homely, humble, or just plain unappealing to Americans who have come to expect red tomatoes, tender lettuce and fresh strawberries from their supermarket produce sections through the dead of winter.

But root vegetables clean up nicely and offer a range of flavors and textures. They also offer a taste of Vermont in this relatively barren season. "The fact that we have something is the celebration," Johnson said.

A tabletop crammed with deep winter offerings from Pete's Greens looked like many reasons for delicious celebrations.

There was a rainbow of purple, orange and yellow carrots ready for crunching raw, steaming with a little butter and salt, roasting with maple syrup, even a quick pickling to turn them into crisp, briny bites. Golden turnips, purple-tinged rutabagas, creamy white parsnips and those knobby celery roots called out for mashing with potatoes or with apples, roasting slowly with crushed garlic, herbs and a little stock; simmering into a creamy soup; or braising with a rich piece of meat and grains for a hearty one-pot meal.

There were also sweet white, red, golden and candy-cane striped beets; funky, scaly kohlrabi (not technically a root but it cooks and stores like one); black winter radishes; shallots and onions in a variety of shapes and colors; and just a few of the 18 types of potatoes Johnson grows -- full-size to fingerlings in purple, red, yellow and even sweet potatoes. An array of cabbages included an unusual, strikingly whorled purple Savoy. "We searched the world for that seed," Johnson said proudly.

Other than the green cabbage, however, there was a distinct lack of things green. "We are Pete's Greens," Johnson explained, "but we've evolved, and the goal is to feed people year-round. There's just not enough volume in greens. I think that Vermont should really be thinking about feeding a lot of its population year-round. The diversity possible is really quite large, and the storage needed is pretty low-tech."

Johnson spent his teenage years in Greensboro on what he describes as a family homestead. He has farmed for the decade since he graduated from Middlebury where he built his first greenhouse to cultivate winter salad greens for the college dining system. "I've long had an emphasis on extending the season," Johnson said.

During the growing season, farmers' markets, farmstands, some local stores and community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms in which members pay upfront for a share of the anticipated harvest all provide broad access to Vermont-grown produce. During the wintertime, it's not as easy to find local fruits and vegetables.

Johnson has chosen to help fill that gap by providing produce and other locally grown foods throughout the year. He had previously run an active winter business selling greens and storage crops to restaurants and retailers, but this is the first year he has offered a year-round CSA direct to consumers. In addition to fresh, stored vegetables, he also provides some frozen produce and is currently building a commercial-scale kitchen and walk-in freezer for processing and preserving. The response has been strong. "The public is just gung-ho about it," he said happily.

Judy Geer of Morrisville, one of Pete's Greens winter members, summed up her motivations in a recent e-mail. "I love the concept of eating locally, and eating what is seasonally available," she wrote. "It's a great challenge, and it ties us more closely to the land, and gives us just a small sense of how our forbears lived here in the years before mass-produced, mass-preserved and mass-transported food."

A newer refrain coming from local food proponents is one of food security. "Our times are becoming a little more uncertain," Johnson elaborated. "Food security could be life security." Vermont has the ability to feed itself, he said, although the state will have to rebuild infrastructure: "We need root cellars and slaughterhouses. We need mills. We need creameries." It's all been done before, he said. "There's nothing revolutionary about any of this."

Philosophy and security aside, even the most committed "localvores" -- as the eat local movement has dubbed itself -- might have misgivings when week after week brings pounds of root vegetables and little else on the fresh produce side.

"I enjoy almost any vegetable," wrote Pat Jones of Montpelier, another of Pete's Greens' winter members, "but I have to admit I was a little worried about how other members of my household -- the ones in the 12- to 18-year-old range -- would react. ... I have been really pleasantly surprised with the variety of vegetables that we've received from Pete's Greens and the way that it has challenged my creativity as a cook. I had no idea that there were so many kinds of turnips and onions and potatoes and beets, and the difference in taste and texture between the different varieties is remarkable."

Jones and her family have enjoyed steamed parsnips dressed with parsley, butter and lemon juice; salad turnips and raw beets thinly sliced or grated into salads; sweet potatoes scalloped with apples and brown sugar; celery root and potatoes gratineed together with wine, tomatoes and cheese; and medleys of roasted roots.

From an eating standpoint, Jones feels, it has been a success. "Plus," she adds, "it makes me feel like I'm doing my small part for the local economy and the local food movement."

Contact Melissa Pasanen at mpasanen@aol.com. Pete's Greens

RECIPES to celebrate local root vegetables

Pete's Greens root vegetables are available at Healthy Living in South Burlington and a recent survey of City Market's produce section revealed a wealth of locally grown root vegetables, from golden beets to scarlet turnips to bags of sweet carrots and yes, the beautifully ugly celery root. Search out local root vegetables at your favorite store and enjoy a taste of winter in Vermont.

Wine-Braised Lamb Shanks with Winter Roots

1 cup hard red wheat berries, soaked overnight in water (see testing note)

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

3-4 lamb shanks, about 1 pound each

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt plus more to taste

Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

About 2 pounds assorted root vegetables, such as carrot, parsnip, rutabaga, turnip or celery root, peeled and cut into rough 1-inch pieces to yield about 6 cups

1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

4 garlic cloves, smashed with the flat side of a knife and peeled

1 and one-half cups dry red wine

1 (15-ounce) can or 2 cups diced tomatoes with their juice

1 and one-half cups chicken stock, preferably low sodium

Tie rosemary, thyme and bay leaf up in a cheesecloth bag and set aside. Pat lamb shanks dry and season with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. In a large Dutch oven set over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. When oil is hot, brown shanks, in batches if necessary so as not to crowd. Cook, turning periodically, until a nice crust has formed, about 8-10 minutes total. Remove browned shanks to a plate. Add remaining tablespoon olive oil to pan and then root vegetables, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, 7-9 minutes until they start to color. Add red wine to pan and stir to scrape up any brown bits. Simmer wine 5 minutes. Add herb bundle, diced tomatoes with their juice, and chicken stock to pan along with drained wheat berries. Bring pot to a simmer and cover. Simmer on stovetop for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Return lamb shanks and any accumulated juices back to pot. Put covered pot in oven and cook, 1 and one-half to 2 hours, until lamb is tender. Wheat berries should also be fairly tender, but they will still have a little bite to them. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve. It is easiest to shred meat off the bone in the kitchen and serve plates of wheat berries plus vegetables topped with shredded meat. Serves 6.

Free Press testing note: Wheat berries are the unhulled kernel of wheat. They have a nice nutty flavor and good chewy texture, but take a while to cook. Soaking them overnight in cold water to cover softens the hull and speeds up their cooking. Look for locally grown wheat berries in the bulk bins at some stores or you can substitute unsoaked but rinsed pearl barley and skip the 20 minutes of simmering on the stove because the barley will have plenty of time to cook in the oven. Fair warning that the red wine tints the pale barley a rather interesting gray-purple. This dish can be made ahead and reheated in a covered pot.

Quick Pickled Carrots and Rutabaga

three-quarters pound rutabaga (about one small rutabaga), peeled and cut into sticks about 3 inches long by one-half inch wide

three-quarters pound carrots (about 3-4 medium), peeled and cut into sticks about 3 inches long by one-half inch wide

1 cup cider vinegar

2 cups water

one-half to three-quarters cup sugar to taste

1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt

3 garlic cloves, smashed with the flat side of a knife and peeled

1 tablespoon whole fennel seed

1 and one-half teaspoons whole mustard seed

one-quarter teaspoon whole black peppercorns

one-eighth to one-quarter teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Sprigs of fresh dill or fresh fennel fronds, optional

Prepare a large bowl full of ice water. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add vegetables and boil for 1 minute. Drain immediately and plunge vegetables into the ice water to stop cooking. In the same pot, combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt, garlic, fennel seed, mustard seed, peppercorns and crushed red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain cooled vegetables and put them in a heat-resistant container along with fresh herbs if using. Pour pickling liquid over vegetables and cool. When cool, cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before eating. Makes about 2 quarts of pickles, which can be stored in the fridge for about 1 month.

Free Press testing note: The refreshing crunch of these pickles is a nice change from roasted, boiled and pureed root vegetables. You could do this with just carrots if you like, but the rutabaga adds nice variety. It will also work with turnips if you like their bite. If you like a sweeter pickle, go for the larger amount of sugar.

Celery Root Soup with Blue Cheese

1 medium (about 1 pound) celery root (also called celeriac), peeled and cut into rough 1-inch chunks

3 cups milk, 2 percent or whole

one-half teaspoon coarse kosher salt plus more to taste

up to 1 cup chicken stock, preferably low sodium

1-2 ounces best quality blue cheese, crumbled, to taste, plus more for garnish if desired

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a medium saucepan, bring celery root, milk, and one-half teaspoon salt just to a boil and then reduce heat to a steady simmer for about 30 minutes until a fork easily pierces celery root. Carefully pour celery root and milk into a blender and blend. (Use great care when blending hot liquids. Leave the center of the blender lid off and cover the opening with a wadded kitchen towel. Start blending slowly and don't overfill the machine; blend in batches if necessary.) Add blue cheese to taste and enough chicken stock to adjust consistency as desired. Blend until completely smooth. Return to the saucepan and warm gently over medium-low heat. When soup is hot, take off heat, stir in lemon juice, and adjust salt as desired. Serve immediately sprinkled with additional blue cheese if desired. Serves 4.

-- Adapted from Aaron Josinsky, sous-chef, Inn at Shelburne Farms.

Free Press testing note: Don't be scared of celery root's rather gnarly appearance; it's nothing a sharp knife or good vegetable peeler can't take care of. The soup can be made ahead without the lemon juice and refrigerated for two to three days. Reheat and then stir in the lemon juice as directed above.

Recipes developed/selected and tested by Melissa Pasanen.