We had a celeriac, some beets, some potatoes and some big carrots in the fridge, and Christmas was coming, and for some reason I started to think about salt baking…
I tried it once before, years ago, and it was kind of a disaster - I used a salty crust and it was a faff to make and put on/off… and then the veggies tasted wayyy too salty when done.
After a bit of googling I found a way simpler method (e.g. here), and was encouraged to give it another go. This route was so simple it felt worth trying even if the end result didn’t work out great…
Just make a thick layer of salt in the bottom of an oven proof pan or baking dish that is deep enough to fit your whole root veggies in, and has a lid (or you can cover with foil). Heat the oven to c 160C. Clean your veggies very well, trim if needed, then put them whole on top of the salt layer. I tried putting in some sprigs of fresh herbs eg rosemary, sage, thyme; and whole garlic cloves - around the veg, for extra flavour - and I recommend it… Then cover and bake for maybe 2 hours, turning and checking a couple of times to see if the veggies are tender and cooked. When they are tender, take the lid off, turn the heat up to about 210C, and bake for about another half hour to crisp them up a bit.
This time it worked great! The salt absorbs liquid to make the veggies really tender, and imparts some flavour but not overly salty. And whole veggies cooked this way, especially a big celeriac or so surrounded with herbs, actually makes a cool centrepiece for a vegetarian winter feast.
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