Salsify is a typical winter vegetable, however not a lot people prepare these at home anymore. Peeling is the most difficult part. But after that step, you can easily steam, cook, fry or bake these black vegetables. If you steam or cook the salsify it tastes like a mix of cauliflower and white asparagus. However, roasting, baking or frying will give the salsify a more nutty flavor.
Fried Salsify, Lemon Cream & Cress
Equipment
- Fryer
- Cooking pan
- Bowl
- Fine Sieve
Ingredients
- 600 gram Salsify
- ½ Lemon
- 3 tbsp Flour
- 1 Egg
- 80 gram Hazelnuts
- Some Parsley
- Cress
Sauce
- ½ Lemon
- 250 ml Cream
- 5 Peppercorns
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 tsp Honey
Instructions
Preparations
- Add some water, salt and juice of half a lemon to the bowl. This will prevent the peeled salsify from turning into a brown color.
- Preheat the fryer on 120 degrees Celsius or 248 degrees Fahrenheit.
Peeling the Salsify
- Let's start to peel the salsify. Since this can be irritating to your skin, it is important to either wear gloves or to peel the salsifies under water. Once you have peeled one salsify, you need to place the salsify directly in the lemon water.
Making the Lemon Cream
- Add the cream, the peel of ½ lemon, the bay leaf and peppercorns to the cooking pan. Bring this to a boil, and let it cook for 25 minutes on a low heat.
Frying
- Fry the salsify for about 10 minutes or until light brown.
- In the meanwhile, you can chop the hazelnuts and parsley very fine. Transfer the nut mixture, flour and whisked egg each in individual bowls or deep plates.
- Take the salsifies out of the fryer. Let them cool down to room temperature.
- Dip half of the salsify in the flour, then in the egg and then in the chopped hazelnuts. Once you have coated each salsify, you can fry them for another 2 minutes.
Finishing Touches
- Once the lemon cream is a bit thicker, you can pour it through the fine sieve. Add the honey and just a pinch of lemon juice.
- Add the sauce to the plate, and top off with the fried salsifies and cress.
Serving the dish with wine?
- *If you are going to eat this with a more acidic wine (citrus flavors), you can add a little more lemon juice to the sauce. This will balance out the flavors of the wine and the dish better.