Late-Autumn Vegetable Casserole

Recipe: Late-Autumn Vegetable Casserole
Page: 247
Date Cooked: April 4, 2011

The great part of cooking in today's world is that you don't necessarily have to wait for a specific season to arrive in order to eat your favorite assortment of vegetables. And though it is technically spring, here in Central PA we are still getting glimpses of winter and this casserole seemed to fit the weather the perfectly.

Ingredients: Butternut squash, olive oil, salt, pepper, white button mushrooms, onion, garlic, leeks, celery root, rosemary, thyme, chives, San Marzano plum tomatoes, fresh bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese

The first task was to roast the squash. It was rubbed down with some butter and seasoned with salt and pepper and placed in the oven to do its thing. In the meantime the following was accomplished: Chopped onions and mushrooms; Smashed garlic; Chopped leeks, celery root, tomatoes, and herbs. I had never used celery root before this recipe and found the peeling process to be quite tedious. The surface isn't smooth at all and proved to be quite difficult.

From Left to Right: Squash before roasting; Chopped mushrooms; Chopped onion

From Left to Right: Smashed garlic; Chopped leeks; Chopped celery root

In a Dutch oven with some hot olive oil, (1) the onions, garlic, leeks, and celery root are all cooked together. After the vegetable appear tender, (2) the mushroom is added and cooked for a minutes as well. The (3) roasted squash is then added to the vegetables. Finally, (4) the tomatoes, herbs, and some salt and pepper to taste join the Dutch oven.

Vegetable cooking process - Panel goes with steps listed in previous paragraph

Finally, the casserole is sprinkling with bread crumbs and grated Parmesan and is baked until golden brown.

Late-Autumn Vegetable Casserole

This casserole smelled like Thanksgiving! And it was delicious! None of the vegetables were overcooked (so yay Jonathan Waxman recipe directions) and each of them provided a great textural contrast. I also really enjoyed the celery root - it was quite yummy. I'm not sure what else I can say about this casserole, other than the fact that this will be on my table this Thanksgiving for all to consume!

Enjoy!