Root Vegetable and Swede Gratin with Cashew Bechamel  -VEGAN

by Lou Robbie

Celebrate all the lovely root vegetables in your box this week!

Delicious layers of organic root vegetables – mostly Irish vegetables apart from the sweet potato. This is a real celebration of root vegetables and its delicious as each layer adds a different delicious flavour.

If you have a mandoline it is ideal for slicing the root vegetables. We’ve made this with a vegan bechamel but feel free to use a milk one if you wish. Garnish with toasted hazelnuts and a side of wild garlic pesto pasta for extra deliciousness!!

Lou x

Ingredients:

  • For the swede puree: serves 6-8
  • 400g swede (1 small) – cubed
  • 50g butter
  • salt and pepper
  • For the bechamel sauce:
  • 120g cashews
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or cider vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup water (200ml)
  • Root veg:
  • 400g beetroot (6 beets)
  • 500g sweet potato (4 small)
  • 500g celeriac (1 small)
  • 400g potato (4 medium)
  • plus:
  • 2 tablespoons ground almonds
  • olive oil to drizzle
  • Crushed hazelnuts to serve

Method:

Step 1: To make the suede puree, steam and boil the cubed swede. Once soft blend with a stick blender or blender with butter, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Step 2: To make the cashew bechamel, pour boiling water over the cashews, leave to soften for 30 minutes. Saute the onion and garlic until translucent and soft. Drain the cashews then blend with the cooked onions and garlic, lemon juice or vinegar, salt and pepper and water.

Step 3: Peel and slice the root veg ideally using a mandoline, the slices should be 1/4 cm thick. Keep each of the vegetable slices separate.

Step 4: Preheat the oven 180ºC. Assemble the gratin add the swede puree to the baking tray first (mine is 13inc x 9inc) , and smooth with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Layer on the beetroot slices, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer on the sweet potato and add a layer of the cashew bechamel. Next add the potato, salt, pepper and a drizzle of oil. Add another layer of cashew bechamel and finish with the sliced celeriac, salt, pepper and oil. Cover with a layer of parchment paper, tin foil and bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Step 5: Check its cooked be piercing with a small sharp knife. Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Ideally cook and put in the fridge overnight to slice, heat through and serve the next day.

Leek & Potato Gratin

by Liz Child

We adore a classic potato dauphinois, there’s no better side on a cold, winters day. This twist with lovely leeks is so delicious! We all know that leeks and potatoes are made for each other, and this dish proves it once again. Use your favourite milk or cream, (we used oat cream here) but not too much or you’ll end up making soup. Here is a guide, but this is definitely one of those recipes where you should be flexible and feel your way with amounts. Enjoy!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 800g potatoes, very thinly sliced
  • a 250g leek, halved lengthways then rinsed and cut into chunks
  • 500ml milk/cream
  • 1 tsp salt
  • pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp garlic powder (or a crushed clove of garlic)
  • 1 tbsp bouillon powder
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Method

  1. Turn your oven on to 200C and find a deep baking dish with a lid.
  2. Tumble in your cut potatoes and leek, separate the leek leaves so that they can be evenly distributed through the gratin.
  3. In a measuring jug, whisk together the rest of the ingredients then pour over the vegetables. Mix well to coat each slice in the seasoning then press down into an even layer.
  4. Place the lid on (or use baking parchment/foil/a flat baking sheet if you are using a baking dish without its own lid) and bake until the potatoes are soft. This usually takes around 30 minutes but test with a fork after 20 minutes.
  5. Remove the lid and bake uncovered for 15 more minutes to brown the top (and you can add cheese or breadcrumbs at this stage too if you fancy). Enjoy!

Mushroom, Parsnip & Potato Gratin

by Liz Child

This creamy, comforting, warm winter side dish will make you cosy from the inside out. It’s special enough for the Christmas table, but once you try it, you’ll be making it to go alongside all your winter roasts. Deep, dark, earthy mushrooms mingle perfectly with sweet parsnips and rich cream. The nutmeg, garlic and bay leaves infuse beautifully into the sauce making your whole house smell amazing!

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 250g fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled & sliced
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 600g potatoes, thinly sliced
  • 600g parsnips, thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp dried mushrooms (soaked in 400ml boiling water)
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 400ml cream (oat cream works well)
  • salt & pepper to taste

Method

  1. Turn your oven on to 200C and prepare all your ingredients. Boil a kettle and cover a tbsp of dried mushrooms with 400ml of just-boiled water. Find a large, oven and hob safe pot with a lid (or use a large soup pot on the stove and decant to an oven dish to bake).
  2. Sauté the sliced fresh mushrooms for 5 minutes with the oil, garlic and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Once soft add the potatoes and parsnips to the pan.
  3. Pour the mushroom stock (including all the now rehydrated mushrooms) over the vegetables. Add the bay leaves & nutmeg and season well with salt and pepper. Carefully stir to combine the ingredients, then level out with the back of the spoon.
  4. Pour over the cream then pop the lid onto the pot and simmer for around 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are just soft. Remove the lid, use the back of the spoon to push all the veg under the liquid. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
  5. Place the dish in the oven for 20-30 minutes to brown and reduce into a gorgeous gratin. Allow the dish to sit out and set for 5 minutes before serving in generous scoops. Enjoy!

Beetroot, Potato & Horseradish Gratin

by Liz Child

One of the best comfort foods on Earth is a creamy potato gratin dauphinoise. Thin slices of potato baked with garlic, nutmeg and cream is pretty much unbeatable. But we often mix the potato with other root veg or squashes, depending on what’s in season. (French people look away now!) Here’s one of our favourite variations with beautiful beetroots and fiery horseradish. Do you make variations of dauphinoise? What’s your best combo?

So what do you eat gratin with? It’s traditionally a side dish to go with meat and we often have a gratin in place of roast potatoes as part of our Sunday dinner. But it’s special enough to be the main event and we often just pair it with some simple steamed greens and a hearty lentil salad. Rich, soft and creamy meets fresh, crunchy and tangy!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

I have deliberately put approximations here as a gratin is a very fluid thing and the amounts depend on the texture of the vegetables as they cook, the size and depth of your roasting dish etc. Making a gratin is very forgiving too so just go by eye with amounts. You want to make enough to fill a medium roasting dish, the vegetables will shrink as they cook.

  • potatoes – approx 5 medium sized, scrubbed
  • beetroot – approx 5 medium-large, peeled
  • olive oil – approx 6 tbsp
  • garlic – 2 cloves, peeled
  • salt and pepper – to taste (I used 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper)
  • oat milk – approx 250ml
  • nutritional yeast – approx 6 tbsp
  • fresh grated horseradish (or horseradish sauce) – to taste, I used about 4 tbsp fresh grated

Method

  1. Pre heat the oven to 180C. Find a deep, medium roasting dish and some tin foil (or a casserole dish with a lid).
  2. Thinly slice your potatoes and beetroots using a food processor, mandolin or a large, sharp knife. Try and keep the slices an even thickness, ideally around 3-4 mm thick. Put the slices in two separate bowls or mix them up in a large bowl, depending on if you would like to make layers or not.
  3. Divide the oil and seasoning between the bowls, then using a fine grater, grate the garlic over the vegetables too. Using your hands, mix the oil and seasoning evenly throughout the sliced vegetables.
  4. Layer the vegetables as you like. Mixed up or in neat layers, whatever you fancy! If you want separate colours, start with the beetroot then top with the potatoes. If the beetroot goes on top then all the colour will seep into the potatoes as they cook, which is fine too of course. Cover the dish with tin foil or a lid and place in the oven to bake until soft throughout. This usually takes about an hour and a half depending on the size and depth of your dish. Insert a small knife or skewer to test if the veg are done, there should be no resistance.
  5. Meanwhile mix the oat milk, nutritional yeast (this will enrich the milk and give it a savoury, creamy flavour) and grated horseradish. Horseradish looses it’s potency a fair bit as it cooks so it’s better to add it at this stage rather than at the beginning.
  6. When the vegetables are soft remove the lid/foil and pour over the milky mixture. You want to be careful here not to cover the vegetables, the liquid should stay below the top layer, otherwise your gratin will be a bit loose and not stick together nicely. Return to the oven without the lid and bake for another 15 minutes or until the gratin is hot through and starting to brown on top.
  7. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes or so to set. Then slice or serve in scoops and enjoy!