Root vegetable and chestnut cake — a Ravinder Bhogal recipe - Financial Times

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Now in season, homegrown British roots such as swedes, parsnips, beets and celeriac are lamentably undervalued. Even in the height of lockdown, when sales of pulses rocketed, they remained unloved and overlooked. But they should not be dismissed, especially when supply chains are fragile and shortages likely.

They might not win many beauty pageants, but these subterranean beauties are diamonds in the rough. If you treat them with a little love and care, roots and tubers are dependable and rewarding — full of sweet, deep and surprising flavours that will see you through a lean winter.

They are versatile too. For example, carrots, beetroots and turnips do very well thinly shaved and quick-pickled with white wine vinegar plus a few aromatics such as black peppercorns, cinnamon and cloves. Mellow sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, swedes and parsnips can be boiled and mashed into silken purées with generous amounts of cream and the addition of something feisty such as fresh ginger or turmeric or fragrant spices like cardamom or nutmeg.

For me, it’s celeriac — warty, strange and impenetrable — that offers the most promise. Hack away the brutish exterior with a knife and chop it into fine matchsticks before folding in horseradish and mayonnaise for a punchy remoulade. Or even sexier, roast it whole, slice thickly and pan-fry like a steak before serving with a Café de Paris sauce like Yotam Ottolenghi in his new book Flavour.

Root vegetables may look like Plain Janes, but the way they’re cooked doesn’t have to be dowdy. This savoury cake gives them a sexy makeover and a moment to shine. Roasting them teases out their natural sugars so that they caramelise beautifully on top of the cake. The gremolata, which is full of delectable things such as preserved lemon and pul biber, should be doled out liberally to bring lightness to the earthy roots and cut through the richness of the cheesy cake.

Root vegetable and chestnut cake with preserved lemon gremolata

© Aaron Graubart

Serve with a little salad as a light lunch or supper or with a poached or fried egg for breakfast.

Serves six

Quantity	Ingredients
75g	unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
350g	root vegetables of your choice (I used a mixture of swede, carrots, celeriac, turnip, baby beetroot and Jerusalem artichokes), chopped
100ml	extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
	A few thyme leaves, picked
	Sea salt
	Black pepper, freshly ground
	Honey
125g	plain flour
75g	fine polenta
2 tsp	baking powder
1 tbs	dried oregano
2 tbs	Greek yoghurt
100g	Parmesan cheese, finely grated
4	large eggs
	Zest of one lemon
5	baby onions, halved
25g	cooked chestnuts, halved

For the preserved lemon gremolata

1. Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

2. Grease and line a 25cm loose-bottomed cake tin.

3. Chop and slice the vegetables, keeping their size pretty even so they all cook at the same time. Drizzle with olive oil and add thyme. Season with sea salt and black pepper and then drizzle the honey over them. Toss well.

4. In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients and lemon zest then set aside. In a mixer, cream the butter, yoghurt, Parmesan and oil until pale and very fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Fold in the dry ingredients with a metal spoon until combined.

5. Spoon the batter into the lined cake tin. Lay the prepared vegetables and chestnuts over the cake batter and then bake until the vegetables are caramelised and a small knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, this should take about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cake cool before removing from the pan.

6. To make the gremolata, simply mix together all the ingredients. Serve the cake at room temperature with a generous helping of gremolata.

Ravinder Bhogal is chef-patron of Jikoni in London; jikonilondon.com. Her book “Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen” is published by Bloomsbury. Follow her on Instagram @cookinboots

Follow @FTMag on Twitter to find out about our latest stories first. Listen to our podcast, Culture Call, where FT editors and special guests discuss life and art in the time of coronavirus. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen

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Root vegetable and chestnut cake — a Ravinder Bhogal recipe - Financial Times
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Quantity	Ingredients
	A large handful of parsley, finely chopped
1	small garlic clove, finely chopped
2	preserved lemons, finely chopped
½ tsp	pul biber
	Sea salt and pepper to taste
4 tbs	extra virgin olive oil

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