2011 Culinary Trends

With all the talk on food storage, canning and emergency preparedness, it's not odd to see those in the culinary field bringing special attention to these concepts. More and more families are stock piling food, growing the foods they eat on a daily basis in their own home gardens and digging in to their root cellars. There is something to be said about products that are locally grown. Most of us, even some of our grandparents can remember finding unique ingredients as well as out of season products in the grocery stores from a young age. We've been spoiled. We've also lost site on what a traditional root cellar means. This year I am using my root cellar, in other words a cool, dank and dark room in my 103 year old homes basement. I have tomatoes still on the vine ripening, potatoes, onions, apples, herbs, pumpkins and dried peppers. I have also canned pasta sauce, salsa, plum syrup and pineapple apricot jelly.

Tyler Brown of Nashville's Capital Grille has started a new trend among local chefs. He has been using a civil war era root cellar to store locally grown produce and using the stored food in some amazing dishes in his restaurant. He's contributed an amazing dish to the latest Food & Wine magazine. I had never cooked celery root before and I admit I had to look it up before I left for the store because I didn't know what it looked like. It's ugly, but it tastes so good. I went down to the Sunflower market and asked for it. It's a great dish for Thanksgiving and very simple to create.

1. 1 1/4 pounds trimmed baby beets, preferably golden, scrubbed
2. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3. 3  tablespoons herb butter (butter mixed with thyme, parsley, marjoram, chive, minced shallot,  
4. 1 pound celery root, peeled and cut into 2-by- 1/2-inch cubes
5. 2 thyme sprigs
6. salt and freshly ground pepper
7.  1 cup vegetable stock
8. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a baking dish, toss the beets with the oil. Cover with foil and roast for about 1 hour, until the beets are tender when pierced. Let cool slightly, then peel the beets and cut them into small wedges. If you're afraid of staining, wear gloves and cover your counter or board with foil or plastic wrap.
9. In a large, deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the herb butter. Add the celery root and thyme sprigs and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned in spots, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the stock and simmer over moderate heat until nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining stock, 1/4 cup at a time, and cook until the celery root is tender, 8 to 10 minutes total. Stir in the beets and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Discard the thyme sprigs. Swirl in the remaining 1 tablespoon of herb butter and season with salt and pepper. Serve right away.
10.  
11. Pin It