Salsify

[AdamLawrence]

Our current vegetable box contained salsify. Now, I've got to confess that this isn't something I've come across much before. Any suggestions as to what we might do with it?

cheers

Adam

[Clare Leaman]

You could peel and boil them in acidulated water, then make a gratin with plenty of bacon and cream, and a little sharp cheese if you fancy it.

[vengroff]

As Clare indicated, salsify has to go into acidulated water immediately after peeling.  It turns brown very quickly otherwise.

A simple treatment that works well is to pan-roast the salsify in olive oil with rosemary, salt, and pepper.  It goes well with lamb.

[AdamLawrence]

Thanks for the suggestions. In the end I made soup, which was OK, quite delicately flavoured, perhaps lacking a little oomph for my plebeian tastes.

Don't think I'll be running out to buy more salsify in a hurry though.

cheers

Adam

[Adam_Balic]

Was it the black skinned or white skinned type? I think that it is also know as 'Oyster plant", did it taste of oysters?

[AdamLawrence]

Black skinned. Yes, I'd read about the oyster taste too. Didn't notice anything.

[B Edulis]

My mother loved oyster plant -- they grew it on her family farm. She would dredge it in flower and saute it in butter -- give it the "oyster" treatment. It is delicately flavored, but I do like the chewy texture.

In Vegetables from Amaranth to Zuchinni, Elizabeth Schneider has a recipe for salsify with mushrooms and cream that looks good, also rabbit with salsify and bay leaves. She's got a bunch of ideas from other chefs that look delicious, as well: croutons of salsify with foie gras, terrine of leek and salsify, and, from Curtis Eargle, "Oyster, oyster, oyster" -- salsify with oysters and oyster mushrooms.

[Liza]

Can we say it in the Jan Brady "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!?!" voice? Come on, just once! That might be a good and valid reason for making the dish. Let's see if they have any at the farmer's market on Saturday....

[UkFoodie]

I'm trying to work salsify into a menu....

Would it be a sacrilege to turn them into 'fries/chips'.

Thinking of keeping them pretty long, quartered and peeled. Par boiled then finished in some duck/goose fat to crisp.

Good Idea or bad?

[shelora]

I'm trying to work salsify into a menu....

Would it be a sacrilege to turn them into 'fries/chips'.

Thinking of keeping them pretty long, quartered and peeled. Par boiled then finished in some duck/goose fat to crisp.

Good Idea or bad?

←

You have to at least try it. You might be able to cook them the entire time in the fat instead of par boiling. I do that with sweet potatoes.

s

[UkFoodie]

I Did them last night in goose fat, They really lost their delicate flavour. I guess I'll try a more nuteral oil next time.

I'll also try going them all the way in the fat.

The only reason why I par boiled them was to hopefully maintain the colour.

[Lisa Hoffman]

The package said "the oyster plant" so I had to sow some. What is the best way to prepare it and what does it pair well with?

[SobaAddict70]

peel them and plunge the peeled roots into lightly acidulated water (juice of half a lemon in a bowl of water); if you don't, they'll discolor.

* simmer salsify in lightly salted water, then drain and sauté in a little unsalted butter.

* sauté in unsalted butter with onion or leek, then simmer in water, chicken stock or vegetable stock until tender; remove pot from heat, then working in batches, purée in a blender; return soup to pot, stir in a little light cream; cook until warmed through. taste for salt and pepper, then serve.

basically use as you would parsnips, carrots or turnips. they have a faint "artichoke heart" flavor to my palate.

Edited June 22, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[CatPoet]

I had to  google it, salsify can be anything from  a white root to a black.  Oyster plant is aparently either purple  salsify or sconzonera roots  ( black salsify).

Well  have only grown and eaten the black skinned salsify and we called them Poorman's  asparagus . I use a drop of distilled vinegar in the water  so they wont discolour.  Blanch it quickly if used for something else then boiling.  We used to use them as potatoes when I was little.  Boiled, fried, baked and  made into soup.

 

http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/salsify-and-scorzonera-gratin/  this recipe looks intressting,  just use 8 roots of the same and see what happens.

 

What ever you  do, dont eat it raw, that can give  really bad tummy aches.

[SobaAddict70]

This is what's available at my farmer's market, usually sometime between early January and the middle of March.

Doesn't look so appetizing, does it? Has a black/dark brown peel and white flesh. When exposed to air, the flesh tends to oxidize (like apples, for instance).

Something I did back in February.

Carrots and salsify, with lime, Indian spices and burrata

[CatPoet]

I dont have the  recipe exactly, but we used to  tender cook the salsify,  make a thick  bechamel sauce, slice the root into  coins, layer in a casserole dish, pour the white sauce over, just to cover and lube it all up and then good cheese on top and bake until golden  on high heat. 

[djyee100]

 Interesting how SobaAddict and CatPoet have paired salsify with cream or other dairy. I once ate a memorably good risotto with salsify at a local restaurant, and that risotto had cheese in it, Bellwether Farms Crescenza cheese, which is buttery, creamy, and tart.

 

The risotto had mushrooms, leeks, salsify, and red Belgian endive (radicchio) in it. If I were to cook this at home, I would start with a good recipe for the classic mushroom-leek risotto. I would cook the salsify per the simmer-saute method described by SobaAddict (post #2), then cut the salsify in bite-size pieces. The endive would be cut in bite-size strips and sauteed. Both the salsify and the endive would be added to the risotto at end of cooking time, along with the sauteed mushrooms.

 

At the restaurant, the Crescenza cheese was dropped in a few dollops on the surface of the risotto. You could sub teleme cheese or sour cream/creme fraiche for this, or even mix in grated parmesan as in the classic mushroom-leek risotto. I think all of these cheeses would taste good.

[SobaAddict70]

I didn't intentionally pair it with dairy; it was what I had on hand at the time.

You can turn it into chips or simmer it in a little bit of broth and purée it (I don't mean as a soup, but rather as a "mash", like pure di patate for example), and have it accompany it fish. Salmon or arctic char is an idea.

Edited June 22, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[BKYLN]

I like to peel them and then use the peeler to make ribbons of the flesh, which I blanch in water with citrus, coriander, herbs, etc.

[Lisa Hoffman]

So basically treat it like a root vegetable? Lol. I am really looking forward to harvesting them.

[SobaAddict70]

So basically treat it like a root vegetable? Lol. I am really looking forward to harvesting them.

Wikipedia also mentions that the shoots and the flowers are edible, but I have no experience with those forms of salsify.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragopogon_porrifolius

[djyee100]

I found this blog about salsify by chef-cookbook author Deborah Madison when I was surfing her website for something else.

http://deborahmadison.com/two-long-roots-salsify-and-scoroznera/

[BonVivant]

You can also first cook the salsify before peeling. It's less messy this way.

 

I always use a garden hose to rinse off all the soil on the lawn. There's a lot of soil attached to the roots.

[DanM]

Bumpity bump...

 

The local coop had salsify in the store. I am looking for new ideas on how to cook them. Any suggestions out there?

 

Thanks!

[Mjx]

  

On 6/24/2014 at 2:48 PM, BonVivant said:

You can also first cook the salsify before peeling. It's less messy this way.

 

I always use a garden hose to rinse off all the soil on the lawn. There's a lot of soil attached to the roots.

 

I'm not sure whether there's a reason that salsify is sold here covered in mud, but it definitely needs a thorough rinse.

 

 

If you cook black salsify with the peel on, the entire root will be almost inedibly bitter. I found this out the sad way. Made myself eat all the salsify, too, so I won't be forgetting this in a hurry. I don't know whether this happens with white salsify, too.

 

Regarding the browning (which is harmless), unless you're simply boiling salsify on its own and want it too look really white, I wouldn't bother with acidulated water. I always roast it with other root vegetables, or braise it along with other things, and in those cases the browning of oxidation isn't evident