ELLA WALKER
discovers some tasty sweet and savoury ideas for vegetables
CHEF Rob Howell’s new cookbook, named after his restaurant Root, is all about ‘small vegetable plates, a little meat on the side’. And he does veg beautifully, imbuing humble green things with delicacy, panache and intrigue.
In the book, Bristol-based Rob bakes courgette ragu inside a marrow, turns swede into tagliatelle, chars hispi cabbage, creates tomato water, fills chicory leaves with apple, liberally applies burnt onion powder, gives parsnips the hasselback treatment, and amplifies pears and strawberries like you wouldn’t believe (he even stuffs doughnuts with carrot jam).
Meat and fish do occasionally sidle into view, but in Root, if it’s been picked or dug up, it reigns supreme.
Here are two recipes to try at home.