Autumn Vegetables

For the past 3 years I have focused on eating as seasonally as possible. After some time cooking this way I quickly began to relish the changes in seasons for the unique gastronomical pleasures that each time of year supplied. When I transitioned to a more raw diet this summer, I worried about how seasonal eating would play out. In particular, I wondered whether root vegetables, which become so sweet and delicious when roasted at high temperatures, would be at all palatable in the raw.

I noticed that Sarma's Thanksgiving menu has a Celeriac Mash. Of course everything she makes is delicious, so I was confident that this would be no different, even without being roasted at a high temperature. I just had to try it.

As a matter of fact, I've been so disappointed about missing One Lucky Duck's Thanksgiving dinner, that I got inspired to make every menu item myself for dinner last night. All the recipes are featured in Living Raw Food, Sarma's latest book. Fun fact: it's actually easier to make the entire Thanksgiving dinner than it is many other recipes in this book.

The recipes were created to serve 10 to 12, so I halved most of them. Here's what I did for the Celeriac Mash - titled Mashed Root Vegetables in Living Raw Food:

2 cups pine nuts (soaked for at least an hour)

Puree the pine nuts in high-speed blender with 1 cup filtered water until smooth. Pour into large bowl.

Then dice (cube):

2 cups celery root

2.5 cups jicama

3/4 cup parsnips

Add all vegetables to the bowl of pine nut puree. Then add to the bowl:

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp truffle oil

1/2 cup chopped scallions

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

Stir all ingredients to combine. Add to a food processor to process in batches. Let sit for at least 2 hours to allow excess liquid to pool at the top. Pour off excess liquid before serving.

Everything was scrumptious (as my grandmother says). The brussels sprouts coated in olive oil, maple syrup, salt & pepper were particularly outstanding. I also added cranberry sauce to my stuffing, just like I've done since I was 8 years old.

Of course I always forget to snap a picture until I'm already mid-way through my meal. My apologies in advance for my future postings.