By Jen Inglis
This salad is lovely warm served with chunks of bread or as a side with a Sunday roast, the bright carrots, lemon zest and sunchokes make a roasted wintery salad feel like summer.
Taking a break from sweet treats this week, and I was torn between a soup or salad for beautifully earthy sunchokes. Sunchokes, also more widely known as jerusalem artichokes, are actually the root vegetable produced by a species of sunflower. They are funny looking knobbly roots that look similar to ginger, and are an absolute nightmare to peel so I recommend only using for recipes that leave the skin on. This might be why my recipe involves roasting the 'chokes in their skins. This salad is lovely warm served with chunks of bread or as a side with a Sunday roast, but is also completely delicious cold and any leftovers can be eked out by tossing through some cooked rice or other grain. The bright carrots, lemon zest and sunchokes make a roasted wintery salad feel like summer so it definitely isn't a boring veggie option, but if you're keen to add dairy then topping with a bit of feta would work beautifully.
'See ya winter' salad
Ingredients
600g Sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes)
600g carrots
2 X tbsps oil
1 bulb garlic
200g raw kale
Dressing
1 lemon zest & juice
100ml olive oil
1tsp wholegrain mustard
Pinch salt
2 tbsps cider vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup or 1 tsp sugar
2 tsps fresh dill
1 tbsp capers chopped
Extra fresh dill for topping
2 tbsps mixed seeds (dry toasted in a pan for a few minutes till seeds start popping. Then add a pinch of chilli flakes, salt and pepper)
30g toasted hazelnuts (chopped)
Equipment
Bowl
Vegetable peeler
Knives
Chopping board
Measuring spoons
2 baking trays
Deep pan
Small frying pan
Measuring jug
Stick blender
Grater
Serving dish
Method
Scrub sunchokes really well to remove any clumps of dirt tor grit that may have accumulated around any of the little nodules. Chop them in half lengthways. Peel and chop carrots lengthways and into 2 inch chunks. Place chopped veggies on baking tray and coat well in 2 tbsps of oil. Roast at 180 degrees for 20 minutes then flip all the pieces so they're beautiful and golden all over, and then roast for another 10 minutes till they are soft keeping an eye out to make sure they don't blacken.
On a separate tray place the garlic bulb and roast for 15 minutes. Once cool cut the base off the bulb and squeeze the garlic into a container and use half with the kale in this recipe and also reserve 1/2 a tsp for the dressing. Keep the rest for something else as it's brilliant in sauces, salads, soups, breads, dressings and anywhere else you'd add garlic.
Prepare the kale by removing the tough stems from the centre and chopping the leaves into bite sized chunks. Then add the whole lot to a pan with half the roast garlic and 1 tbsp oil. Heat while stirring continuously still slightly wilted and softened.
Place all dressing ingredients plus 1/2 tsp roast garlic and minus capers in a container and blend. Stir in capers and season further to taste.
Once veggies are removed from oven drizzle 2 tbsps of dressing over the tray and very gently give them a wee stir.
Plate up the salad on a large serving dish starting with kale and roasted veggies. Drizzle with a few more tbsps of dressing and top with hazelnuts, fresh dill and toasted seeds. Serve with chunks of fresh bread for an amazing 'see ya winter' lunch.