Well Seasoned Blog

Oh, I know how tempting they are…I see them all bright red and glorious looking in their little clear clamshell boxes on display in the grocery store like fine jewels from faraway lands – they are, they really are. You know I am talking about all those winter berries that started arriving just before Valentine’s Day and will now stick around until the sweet locally grown flavours of spring start to arrive.

I avoid those tempting looking berries at any cost; they always look so good but have a flavour reminiscent of wet cardboard and a texture similar to a pencil eraser – the pink kind, not the white ones. They are overpriced and they always under deliver. I preserver and don’t allow myself to be drawn into the bad berry vortex, eating seasonally is important to me and although it feels like early April most days it is still only February and we are sadly still many weeks away from enjoying the Fraser Valley flavours of spring. We have to work with what we have….and what we have right now is more root veg. than we can shake a stick at! That’s right super exciting things like beets, potatoes, turnip, yams, onions carrots and celeriac plus the fruit that remains from fall like apples and pears. Fortunately for me, I love all of those things but they can get a bit tiresome and let’s face it, we all get stuck in cooking ruts – making the same things over and over again to less than rave reviews from the diners at our table. Yesterday, I hauled a few of my favourite cookbooks – armed with a bag of turnips, a few spuds and a couple of not so great looking pears I went in search of culinary inspiration.

It didn’t take me long to find it – a delicious turnip and pear puree. Cut the turnip and the potatoes into cubes – steam for about 12 minutes until fork tender. Add the chopped peeled pears to the steamer and steam for another 3-4 minutes until they are all nice and mashable but not over cooked. Transfer the steamed veggies to a large bowl and mash on, add some butter and a little cream, season with some salt & pepper and serve immediately as a great side dish.

Simple, satisfying and delicious. All the inspiration you need to change things up is there if you look for it – transform basic ingredients into something great – break out of the box. Pick up a cookbook, open the pantry and get cooking.