We picked up our last Winter Food Share this past Thursday. We have been inundated with lots of squash, potatoes, and onions in all the deliveries, plus a variety of other food stuffs. Parsnips. Turnips, Popcorn on the cob. Maybe not standard items purchased at the grocery store, but still easily recognizable. Then there were the roots we were delivered. Upon pulling them out of the box, I declared “Parsnips, except they seem a little brown and smaller” the next item that came out I again thought “parsnips, but wait I declared the last item to be parsnips, so they can’t both be parsnips, so what the heck was the first thing?” After going to the website of the CSA Homegrown Wisconsin (you can sign up for their Summer CSA now!) and checking out the Newsletter I was able to identify the food as salsify. What the heck is salsify you ask?
All the dishes (and there weren’t many) that I found on various sites seemed to pair salsify with seafood. Based on wikipedia, I assume this is because of the oyster flavour ascribed to the root. We are currently planning to try out this new root in the following dish by Emeril Lagasse. Flatiron Steak with Lemon, Herbs and Olive Oil with Sauteed Salsify and Elephant Garlic Chips. The next problem of course being, what is a Flatiron Steak?? While I like to think of myself as a Foodie. I may be misrepresenting myself. I have a lot to learn. I don’t know different cuts of meat or which part of the cow they come from. I’ve never had lobster and Dim Sum was unheard of only a year ago. I’ve come a long ways already, but I have many more miles to go. But I’m willing to try. Bring on the salsify. I’ll see what I can do. Worst of all, you throw it out and order a sandwich.
Check back later this week to see how it turns out 🙂
Mmm... Food 