Roast kumera with ginger juice and olive oil makes a very tasty combination. For a bit of razamatazz, we’ve hasselbacked our kumera and added garlic and golden shallots to the roasting pan for an attractive Christmas vegetable accompaniment.
If, like most of us at Christmas, you have oven-space-crisis, you can roast this dish before-hand and pop it back in the oven to heat through before serving.
You could even go hasselback mad and add some potatoes and carrots to the dish. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to serve.
Rosie
ROAST KUMERA WITH GINGER, GARLIC AND GOLDEN SHALLOTS
Serves 10
1.5 kg kumera (smaller pieces preferably)
50 gm ginger
5 tablespoons olive oil
10 cloves garlic
20 golden shallots, peeled
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 250°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Scrub kumera and pat dry.
Remove a lengthways slice from one side of each kumera to keep them stable. Place a chopstick on either side of each kumera and make cuts from the top at ½ cm intervals. The chopsticks will prevent you from cutting all the way through to the bottom. Place the prepared kumera in a baking dish.
Grate the ginger and, over a bowl, squeeze out the juice, discarding the flesh. Combine the juice and olive oil and pour over the kumera ensuring each one is well coated. Season. Add the whole garlic cloves and peeled golden shallots to the baking dish ensuring they are coated with olive oil.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, turning the garlic cloves and golden shallots once during cooking, until the kumera is browned on top and cooked through.
This dish can be cooked an hour or so before hand and re-heated in the oven just before serving.
TIP: Covering the golden shallots briefly in boiling water will enable them to be peeled more easily.