Root vegetables to beat winter blues

Winter in the Bay area is quite mild compared to the "Snowmageddon" engulfing the East Coast over the last two weeks. Despite having lived on the East Coast for years, I still find our winter to be uncomfortably chilly. Especially when it gets rainy and windy, I feel as if my soul were drawn out of me.

One way I deal with the winter blues is by having dessert soups. But I can't have desserts all the time, plus I vowed to cut down my sugar consumption this year. What else can I do?

Answer: root vegetables. During the winter months, root vegetables such as potatoes and turnips take center stage in farmers' markets as there isn't much other produce. As a result, I buy them almost every week.

Cooking and eating these vegetables warms me up and makes me feel grounded. Like beans and soups, their starchy and filling nature restores my energy level immediately. Not to mention they are nutritious.

Roasting brings out the best flavors of root vegetables. It's really no-fuss, and I can do something else as they are cooking in the oven.

I usually just toss the vegetables, peeled and diced, with salt, pepper, and olive oil before popping them into the oven for about 45 minutes. Occasionally I add sprigs of herbs such as rosemary or spices such as colander into the mix. The vegetables usually have enough flavor and don't need too much condiments.

If you don't want to bother with the oven, stovetop cooking works for some vegetables too. Recently I did a rotini with sweet potatoes, peas, and sundried tomatoes. I first sauteed the sweet potatoes with diced shallots, and then added some water to cook them.

 Whole-wheat rotini with sweet potatoes, peas, and sundried tomatoes

The flavor was not as intense as in the case of roasting them, but they were still delicious. The dish kept well so I brought it for lunch in the office the next day too.

I will close with a big dinner salad made with roasted rutabaga, kohlrabi, and walnuts on top of a mixture of frisee and arugula and drizzled with champagne vinaigrette. Sounds fancy, isn't it?

Frisee and arugula salad with roasted rutabaga, kohlrabi, and walnuts

I bought the rutabaga and kohlrabi from a stand known for heirloom and obscure varieties of produce in the Menlo Park farmers' market (another of my favorite markets in the Bay area). I like that the roasted rutabaga and kohlrabi are mild-flavored so they didn't obscure the freshness of the salad greens. The vinaigrette added a nice dimension to an otherwise clean-tasting salad.

By the way, Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day!