Root Vegetable Gratin with Mushrooms & Blue Cheese

As the mom of 6 and 4 year old daughters, the prospect of hurriedly sending my girls away into the care of folks I don’t know and have never met, and without immediate means available to contact them, is terrifying.

But as a wartime evacuee from London, for my mother-in-law Elizabeth the alternative had the potential to be much worse.

At 6 years old Elizabeth and the elder of her two sisters boarded a train to a county far away, where they were welcomed into the relative safety of a boarding school while arrangements were made for a more permanent move. Frequent bombing air raids over London led this to be the plight for many children, and Elizabeth was fortunate that her whole family were soon reunited in a city outside of London where they would remain until the end of the war when it was safe to return home.

As an Inspector of Taxes for Her Majesty’s Inland Revenue Service, her Father, who was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his outstanding service to his country, remained on the home front in a “reserved occupation.” Funding the war effort and easing the huge financial burden required the hard work and diligence of the tax collectors.

But despite the magnitude of this experience, Elizabeth talks fondly of her exile in the countryside away from London. She remembers the wonder of waking up each morning in the school and examining the new frost patterns which had developed overnight on the inside of the window frames. And as with the majority of members of a generation who experienced rationing and food shortages, she is forever mindful of waste.

As I searched for an appropriate recipe to adapt from the American Veterans Cookbook, I wanted to relate it to the significance of the “Victory Garden” which grew out of this era on both sides of the Atlantic. Both public and private plots of land turned into fruit and vegetable gardens by civilians to feed a population in need, and my family continue the tradition here in Chicago today. So Terri Rizzuti’s Vegetable Bake from the cookbook comes to life in our carefully adapted slow cooker recipe. I layered root vegetables with mushrooms, onions and topped with blue cheese and scalloped potatoes.

While this story has a happy ending, it is with sadness and gratitude that I would like to honor the other members of my family who never made it home from the two World Wars.

Ingredients

1 cup / 2 medium parsnips, 1/2 inch dice
2 cups / 3 medium carrots, 1/2 inch dice
1 cup / 2 medium turnips, 1/2 inch dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz sprouts, trimmed and quatered
1 tbsp dried oregano
8 oz sliced bella mushrooms
1 large onion, sliced into half moons
6 oz blue cheese, crumbled
½ cup chicken broth
4 large potatoes, peeled and 1/3 inch slices
black pepper

Chop the parsnips, carrots and turnips into 1/2 inch dice so that they are equal in size.

Put the vegetables into your slow cooker with the garlic and add stir in the olive oil and oregano.

Layer the mushrooms on top of the vegetable mixture, followed by a layer of onions, and next sprinkle the blue cheese crumbles on top.

Pour the chicken broth over the vegetables and cheese mixture, and lay the sliced potatoes over the top. Season the potatoes with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Cover and cook on high 3 hours or low for 6 hours.

 Zen Moment

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
– John F. Kennedy