Easy
4
This unusual-looking vegetable, with its dark-brown, long, tapering root is a crisp white inside. It is actually very healthy and sweet tasting. In Liguria they cook it with egg yolks and onion to make a substantial vegetable dish. If you can't get scorzonera, salsify, which is a very similar – though unrelated – vegetable, could be used.
Scrape the scorzonera and drop it into a basin of cold water mixed with the lemon juice. It otherwise discolours in an unpleasant way.
Put the onion and the parsley in the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan and fry over low heat until the onion is transparent. Drain and dry the scorzonera and cut into pieces the size of a small finger. Add to the pan, stir and fry gently for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir again, adding the stock. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, checking occasionally that it is not catching. When the scorzonera is cooked, check the amount of liquid – you need about
© 1995 Valentina Harris. All rights reserved.