Peter Meehan - Lucky Peach Presents Power Vegetables!: 102 Turbocharged Recipes for Vegetables with Guts

TURNIPS, GARLIC, AND ANCHOVIES

I dont want to say I was prejudiced against turnips before trying them this way, but I know that admitting my faults is the first step to recovery. I was okay with the picturesque and comparably mild hakurei turnips, raw and cooked, probably because I played enough Super Mario Bros. as a child that they were subconsciously imprinted on me. The thought of this side dish, prepared one New Years Eve to go with a roast of pork, terrified me. It sounded like sad wet pig food from the British countryside (boiled turnips, a hulking variety of no particular distinction) in Riviera drag (the garlic, anchovies, and parsley). The results were good enough that they converted me to turnip fandom immediately and I left the perfectly roasted pig more or less untouched as I went back for seconds and thirds of the tubers!

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

garlic cloves, unpeeled

tin (2 oz) flat anchovy fillets, drained and finely chopped (about 12 fillets)

1 T capers, rinsed

C chopped curly parsley

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 T red wine vinegar

+ freshly ground black pepper

+ kosher salt

2 lb turnips, peeled and chopped into bite-size-plus pieces

+ turnip greens reserved, chopped, if available (or, though this is very optional, substitute 2 C arugula)

Heat the oven to 300F or 350F.

Separate the cloves of garlic but keep them in their paper jackets. Arrange them on a baking sheet and roast them until they turn a goldenish brown and are custardy soft, about 30 minutes. Squeeze them out of their skins and mash them in a small bowl.

Add the anchovies, capers, parsley, oil, vinegar, and pepper to the bowl with the mashed garlic and keep the dressing at the ready.

Put a pot of water on to boil and salt it well. Drop your turnips in the boiling salted water and boil them for 15 minutes. (You can test by scooting a sample piece out of the pot onto a cutting board where it should offer no meaningful resistance to a sharp knifebut should not be ready to fall to shambles either.) When the turnips are cooked to your liking, add the greens to the boiling water, then drain the contents of the pot straight away. Transfer to a serving bowl, add the dressing, and toss until completely coated. Serve hot!

HASSELBACK POTATOES

Hasselbacks are a variation on the baked potato that go in and out of vogue every half-dozen years. Their appeal is easy to understand: They have all the rich and satisfying attributes of a baked potato plus the crispiness of a potato chip or pan-fried potato.

The waxing and waning of their popularity is probably tied to what it takes to make them: It is significantly more preparation and work than a baked potato requires, which is right next to none. Still, its not at all difficult, and if youre at all inclined to have a luxury baked-potato experience, you will be pleased with the results.

For the trivia nerds: These potatoes picked up their name in 1953, when they were devised by a cook at the Hasselbacken Hotel in Stockholm, where they are still served today.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

russet potatoes

C olive oil

+ kosher salt

4 T unsalted butter

+ Maldon sea salt

Heat the oven to 400F.

Peel the potatoes, if you like. Shave or cut a thin slice off of one long side of each potato, creating a flat bottom so they wont roll while you prepare them. Set one potato between two chopsticks and slice the potatoes crosswise at -inch intervals, stopping at the chopstick so that you dont cut through the potato.

Fill a large bowl with cold water and add the potatoes. While they are submerged, fan the layers out, using the water to rinse the starch from between the layersthis will help you achieve crispness later on. Remove the potatoes from the water and shake dry. Wrap each in a paper (or kitchen) towel and drain, cut side down, for 5 minutes.

Unwrap the potatoes and place them in a wide bowl. Dress them with the olive oil, making sure to oil in between the cuts. Who knew youd grow up to become a potato masseuse? Youre doing a great job.

Set the potatoes in a cast iron or other similarly hefty ovenproof skillet and drizzle them with the oil from the bowl. Sprinkle with kosher salt and transfer the skillet to the oven. Roast, basting the potatoes with the olive oil every 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender in the center and golden on the outside, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

Use something heatproof to sheathe the handle of the skillet and bring it up to the stovetop. Dial the burner up to medium and add the butter to the pan. Baste the potatoes with the sizzling fat every 30 or so seconds for about 5 minutes, until they are irresistibly crisp and golden. Drain them on paper towels and shower them with Maldon salt. Serve hot. (A little pile of caramelized onions wouldnt hurt at this moment, and neither would an austere red wine looking for a friend to help it loosen up.)

LATKES

I know couples who fight over what style of latke is best and/or right. Since I grew up outside of the latke-making-and-eating tradition (I am ashamed of my Irish ancestors for not figuring them out), my relationship to potato pancakes is not freighted with my-mom-did-it-this-way baggage. Instead, when I moved to New York I happened into a friendship with a man named Mitchell Davis who had just published a cookbook called TheMensch Chef, which describes him perfectly. Mitchells latkes were the first latkes I ever loved and cooked, and are, to my mind, not just the greatest latkes but the only latkes. They are crisp, not cakey or tender or whatever the worst kind of latkes are. They use a two-to-one ratio of potatoes to onions, which is excellent for the aforementioned crispness and also for deliciousness. They call for matzo meal, not flour, because matzo meal > flour. In lieu of matzo meal I might crush up saltines and dial down the salt in the mixture, but a box of matzo meal is so cheap its hard to justify not keeping one around.

MAKES TWENTY-FOUR 4-INCH PANCAKES

2 lb russet potatoes

1 lb yellow onions

eggs, beaten

C matzo meal or crushed saltine crackers

2 t kosher salt, plus more for finishing

t freshly ground black pepper

+ neutral oil, for frying

+ for serving: sour cream, applesauce, ketchup

Peel the potatoes and onions and grate them with a box graterset it inside a dish and grate the potatoes lengthwise into long strands. Grate the onions over the potatoes and toss them with your hands to combine. (The onion juice will keep the potatoes from turning brown.)