RECIPE: Marinated Winter Root Vegetables with Fresh Citrus

It’s the time of winter when the days are getting longer — but not quite long enough to stop the endless stream of root vegetables accumulating in my produce drawer thanks to my winter CSA. I consider it a point of pride to use up every beet, turnip, radish, daikon, and celery root that enters my kitchen, but there are only so many times a season that I can eat roasted beets with feta. 

One versatile technique I use to prepare winter root vegetables — which I learned from Chef Jody Adams, who owns and operates TRADE and Porto in Boston — is to thinly slice the vegetables using a mandolin (or very sharp knife) and marinate them in a flavorful dressing. The salad can be consumed the day it’s prepared, but when eaten the next day or day after, the raw vegetables have had time to soften and soak in the flavors of the dressing, making for an easy and nutritious base for a next-day work lunch or supper. 

This recipe is highly adaptive. Try it with whatever mix of root vegetables or herbs you have in your fridge, replace the apple with a pear, or switch up the dressing to your preference. This time, I added sliced seasonal grapefruit and a local hydroponic butter lettuce for extra freshness because, well, it’s February in Boston, and I needed it. 

RECIPE: Marinated Winter Root Vegetables with Fresh Citrus

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• Author: Caroline Sörbom
• Yield: Serves 2 to 4 1x

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Ingredients

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For the salad:

• 2 large turnips, scrubbed and peeled 
• 1 large beet (or 2 small), scrubbed and peeled 
• 1 medium daikon radish, scrubbed and peeled 
• 1 medium Cortland apple 
• ¼ cup chopped dill 
• 1 red grapefruit, peeled and segmented 
• 1 small head butter lettuce (mine was hydroponic from Mass.-based Gotham Greens)
• Balsamic vinegar (optional) 

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or liquid honey) 
• 1 1/2 tablespoon grainy mustard 
• 1 tablespoon water 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 
• 2 cloves garlic, grated or very finely minced 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste 
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste 
• 2 teaspoons freshly peeled and grated horseradish*
• Balsamic vinegar for drizzling (optional)

*You can substitute 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish here, but it seems easier to find horseradish root versus prepared horseradish in Boston-area markets.

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Instructions

1. In a jar with a lid, combine the olive oil, maple syrup, mustard, water, vinegar, horseradish, garlic, salt and pepper, and shake vigorously until emulsified. Alternatively, combine all the the ingredients but the oil together in a bowl and slowly pour in the oil while whisking. 
2. Prepare the vegetables: Using the thinnest slice setting on the mandolin (and the guard!), slice the root vegetables as close to wafer-thin as possible. You can also use a very sharp knife to do this. Add the vegetables into a bowl and toss with the herbs and ¾ of the dressing (taste first to see if you want to add the rest.) Eat now, or let the salad sit in the fridge overnight. 
3. To serve: Rinse and dry the butter lettuce and tear it into small pieces and add into a large bowl. Add the marinated root vegetables and the leftover dressing (if you wish) and put the grapefruit on top. Optional: Drizzle the grapefruit with balsamic vinegar.