Winter Vegetable Chips

This recipe works for watermelon radishes, rutabaga, celery root, beets or carrots. As long as the vegetables are sliced thin they will crisp up pretty well. Our favorites were celery root and the watermelon radishes. We actually fried ours in home rendered lard, wow!

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds.

-Peel some of the winter vegetables mentioned above and carefully slice 1/16 inch thick with a mandolin (these have to be cut super thin to crisp up right). You want to end up with 1 baking tray’s worth.

-In a large bowl, toss beets with 2-3 TBS extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.

-Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

-Stack another rimmed baking sheet on top of the baking sheet with the vegetables on it.

-Bake until edges of vegetables begin to dry out, about 20 minutes.

-Uncover and rotate sheets.

-Bake 10 to 20 minutes, removing chips as they become lightened in color.

-Transfer to a wire rack and sprinkle with more sea salt; chips will crisp up as they cool.

Wild Rice and Celery Root Gratin

To make the wild rice:

-Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a saucepan.

-Add 1 cup wild rice and ½ tsp sea salt.

-Lower the heat and cover, cooking for 45-50 minutes until the rice is tender but still has a little bite.

-Drain off any excess water and let stand for 5-10 minutes and then fluff with a fork.

For the sauce:

Cook ¼ cup chopped onions in 3 TBS butter over low heat for 3 min.

-Stir in 2 TBS flour and cook for 2 min.

-Heat 1½ cups whole milk until just boiling and then add to the butter all at once.

-Cook until thickened, about 10 min.

To assemble: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

-Lightly butter a baking dish.

-Melt 1 TBS butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.

-Add 1 celery root peeled and grated, the juice of 1 lemon and some salt and pepper.

-Cook until tender, about 5-7 min.

-Combine the rice, celery root, sauce, ½ cup grated Gruyere cheese and ¼ cup grated Parmesan.

-Turn into the buttered dish and bake for 25 minutes until firm and lightly browned.