Roast sweet and bitter vegetables, salsa bianca
- Farm To Table
I love the combination of roast sweet and bitter vegetables, and it’s even better with a touch of salt. This sauce is Italian, though I sometimes use Scandinavian sweet-cured anchovies, creating a different but equally delicious result.
Serves 8 as a side dish, 4 as a main course
For the vegetables
- 8 carrots, halved lengthwise (quartered if very fat)
- 1½ lb cauliflower, broken into florets
- 2 beets (not too big), trimmed and cut into wedges
- About 8 sprigs of thyme
- 3 onions, cut into thick wedges
- 1/3 cup olive oil, plus extra for brushing
- Salt and pepper
- 1 head of radicchio, cut into 6 wedges
- 2 heads of red or white belgian endive, quartered
For the salsa bianca
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 1¾oz can of anchovies in olive oil, drained
- 1 fat garlic clove, crushed
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Lemon juice, to taste
"Vegetables are the soul's food, the poet's inspiration, and the chef's canvas."
Terri Guillemets
Preheat the oven to 375°F/175°C. Put the carrots, cauliflower, beets, thyme, and onion wedges into a roasting pan in which they can lie in a single layer (you want them to roast not sweat). Drizzle with the regular olive oil, season, and turn the vegetables over to make sure they all get well coated. Roast for about 25 minutes, turning them over every so often, then brush the radicchio and endives with a little more regular olive oil and add to the pan. Roast for another 15 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender and slightly burnished in patches.
To make the salsa, dry fry the pine nuts in a skillet until golden and smelling toasted. Tip into a mortar and pound with the anchovies and garlic, then start adding the extra virgin olive oil, a little at a time. Season and add the lemon juice to taste. You should have a coarse paste. It’s strong, but good with this. Serve the vegetables with the salsa on the side.
