Sprout & Pea

Since I got back from Ver­mont, I’ve been pick­ing my brain about what to do with the pick­led gar­lic I pur­chased at Grafton Vil­lage Cheese Farm (aside from eat­ing it straight out of the jar).  After a week­end of heavy food (includ­ing deca­dent Where The Wild Things Are themed red vel­vet cake at a first birth­day party), I needed some­thing light and refresh­ing.

I had made roasted root veg­eta­bles before, but I had never pre­pared them raw so I went to the mar­ket after work and picked up some fresh root veg­gies and some brown rice vine­gar.   I was excited to find a lit­tle root veg­gie that I had never seen before — baby yel­low car­rots. Car­rots actu­ally grow in a vari­ety of col­ors includ­ing white, pur­ple, yel­low and red.  They orig­i­nated in the Cen­tral Asia and the Mid­dle East as a pur­ple veg­etable and the first yel­low car­rots appeared in Afghanistan, and were even­tu­ally adapted into the orange car­rot we most com­monly see today.  You can read more about the his­tory and health ben­e­fits, includ­ing their many antiox­i­dants and how they help improve eye­sight here.

I had some pine nuts left over from my black quinoa dish so I toasted them and tossed them in with the veg­gies and pick­led gar­lic, and topped with the brown rice vine­gar and some grape seed oil . The fla­vors com­bined beau­ti­fully and made a per­fect refresh­ing win­ter dish.  This one is super sim­ple too.  Here’s how I made this (feel free to sub­sti­tute root veg­eta­bles avail­able to you)…

1 parsnip
4 small radishes
1 small red beet
1 orange car­rot
4 baby yel­low car­rots
6 cloves pick­led gar­lic (can sub­sti­tute with pick­les or any pick­led veg­etable)
1/​4 cup pine nuts
4 tbsp brown rice vine­gar
2 tbsp grape seed oil

Peel all veg­eta­bles and dis­card skin. Slice veg­eta­bles into thin pieces and chop pick­led gar­lic and com­bine in a bowl. In a small pan, toast pine nuts on low-​​medium heat until slightly browned, toss­ing occa­sion­ally. Add the pine nuts and mix with brown rice vine­gar and grape seed oil.