Using Every Bit of Flavor

Glen and I recently had dinner at Ardeo, a restaurant in Cleveland Park, which we had never tried before. I enjoyed my dinner quite a lot, especially the celery root and winter squash hash that they served along with roasted salmon, olive puree, and pine nut foam. I just happened to have a celery root in the refrigerator that I hadn't used the week before, as well as half of a butternut squash, so I decided to see if I could make a reasonable facsimile.

I also wanted to try a recipe from the November issue of Fine Cooking, for a turkey breast "porchetta." As the name suggests, this dish is typically made from a small pig, but in this version a deboned turkey breast is marinated with a spice rub, trussed up, browned in a skillet and then roasted under a canopy of pancetta. This is where the extra flavor comes in. After I browned the turkey in a trusty cast-iron skillet, I realized that I should just make the hash in that pan, to squeeze out every bit of flavor, as well as to save a bit on the dish-washing.

So, I cubed my celery root and squash, diced some onion, and sauteed everything in the skillet with some additional olive oil and a bay leaf. No other herbs or spices were needed, because the pan already contained a fair amount of the spice rub, which included fennel, coriander, sage, rosemary, and garlic. After sauteeing for ten minutes or so, I began to add water in quarter-cup increments, until the vegetables were tender but still held their shape. The end result was not exactly like Ardeo's, but it was still pretty delicious, along with the meat and some mashed potatoes.