In Germany, celeriac is used more often than the celery stems. Celeriac was prepared raw carrots as a slaw, mixed with a very light mayonaise with lemon juice (or apple vinegar),mustard and a tiny bit of sugar, salt and pepper to taste. You will find it on every cold buffet table. And if the real celeriac is not available, it comes in jars. It is a very tasty vegetable.

Brian just had a segment on food shortage, and now this one on food excess. Interesting...

Rochelle.....Lidia Bastianich has a great recipe for braised fennel with onions and capers....you can look it up on her website. It's cooked so slowly it sweetens up and is mouthwateringly good. Gotta go get some fennel now!

The chicory you're talking about that someone had in Switzerland is called "Puntarella" a typical roman chicory.

Another famous dish to make in winter with winter vegetables is Russian borshch:
usually made with beef stock, you add minced onions, shredded cabbage, carrots and most importantly beets and tomato paste :)

FYI
Chicory root can be used as a coffee "substitute". BUT NOT BY ME

BEETS - I've bought beets with greens, roasted the beets and sauteed the greens with some garlic or a shallot, then serve them together.

Although the root vegetables that are high in starch are quite delicious, the notion that they are good "meat substitutes" is ludicrous, as is the notion that they are "nutritional powerhouses" because they contain carbohydrates. There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Starchy root vegetables are just another source of sugar. All our glucose needs can come from meat and fat. Eat them because they are delicious and versatile, but don't confuse their texture or nutritional profile with meat.

@ rochelle from shore

The anise/fennel bulb can be roasted together with other root vegetables...very delicious.

Or, it can be put in the pan and cooked with a chicken breast (and if you add figs, super yummy).

Mark Bittman/NYT had a recipe with fennel and celery [website: http://tinyurl.com/5qz5cx ] The photo in the lower left corner is this particular recipe.

Enjoy.

Found a new favorite Fall/Winter vegetable this year: mantanghong radish - a late season veggie you can eat raw. Sweet and nutty, well worth looking for at farmer's markets next year!

Found a new favorite Fall/Winter vegetable this year: mantanghong radish - a late season veggie you can eat raw. Sweet and nutty, well worth looking for at farmer's markets next year!

re: fennel -- what is a good way to use the feathery tops?

I make seviche with fennel and celery thinly sliced with lots of lemon, a bit of soy souce and olive oil and salmon cut up into small pieces... yum!
celery + parsley stems+ dill stems goes into any soup i make :)

I can't help but laughing as many Americans don't know vegetables. I am from Turkey and when I moved here I was surprised to find out nobody knows them. You can use celery roots by cutting them in wheels,add 1-2 potatoes, carrots , 2 spoonful of oil and little water and you steam it. Voilà you have a first entree. Also you can do the same with leeks. Another option is steam the same ingredients and purée them. Mix with them with ground beef and make them as veggies balls. You can fry them kids would love it. Green squash, steam it, cut it lengthwise in 2, empty the inside, squeeze the inside mix with cheese put back into the squash. You get stuffed squash and put into oven for 40 min

I am referring to the white part of fennel - the bulb, not the leafy part, fronds.

Interesting subject and wonderful music break choices. So good to hear The Mothers again: play Duke of Prunes! Think Beach Boys inspired by Zappa for their song.

Great show, as usual.. And informative, too - until today I thought that a celeriac was a person with a mania for celery.. Silly me.. :)

CHARD! That's a winter vegetable, right? I see it called Mangold sometimes. It makes the most delicious soups. Just add it, stems and leaves into a minestrone. (Stems at the beginning along with the onions, leaves at the end, a few minutes before finishing.)

Could the chicory eaten in Switzerland be puntarelli which I've had in Italy with anchovies?

How can I pick a good celeraic? They often have spongy flesh in the center that's not too good to eat.

Bottom of the fennel- use it for stock in a veg soup. especially minestrone.

My mother grew up on a farm in Massachsetts and swears that Rutagbagas ARE turnips (and the whiter turnips are a variety of the "real" turnip. She's insists that she is right- she's 78 and her family has been here since the 1600's. So-was there a time in this country when "rutagabagas" were the only "turnips"? PLS HELP!

To Lily from Phoenix, leeks are delicious roasted: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1382

During the winter holidays i make parsnips mashed with potatoes and call it Parsnippity Potatoes! YUMMY!

CELERIC MAKES A WICKED/ SPLIT PEA SOUP

Go to Epicurious or Cookster to research recipes for anything you can think of. Also Mark Bittman might have something.

They used to make a very nice celery root palatschinken at Thomas Beisl, the Viennese bistro across from BAM that is, unfortunately, now closed.

What can you do with the bottom of fennel or anise?

Suggesting specialty ingredients such as caviar and truffle oil is silly and misses the point.

My brother is raving about the roasted chicory root he had in Switzerland. I can't find any recipes...any suggestions?

As I prepare a chickpea stew for my family's dinner tonight, I was so excited to hear about this show on the radio. But it is making me so sad! It is very disturbing that the cooking suggestions for these vegetables involve using meat--is it because you really don't like the vegetables to begin with? In this society we do not appreciate the taste of vegetables for what they offer on their own. Too bad the cookbook authors need to add caviar and bacon bits.

Are leeks generally combined with other veggies and meats and soups or is there a good way to serve it standalone?