Oh horseradish, where have you been all my life?  Technically horseradish isn’t completely new to me, but it wasn’t until very recently that I experienced it fresh.  And now I’m hooked.

This crazy root vegetable satisfies my cravings for tang and heat, with a painful in a good way blast through the sinuses burn.  Here I’ve combined it with creamed cashews, lemon, and a little garlic– ingredients which temper its heat somewhat but keep its essence intact.  So far I’ve enjoyed this sauce on a tempeh sandwich, with beets, and dolloped on top of another freak vegetable (and fellow member of the brassicaceae family), romanesco, roasted in olive oil and garlic.  Most assuredly, if there’s a silver lining to the dropping temperatures and increasing dreariness, it’s the ability to use the oven without cooking myself into a sweaty mess.  In fact, a little oven warmth is now welcome.  Isn’t the pursuit of coziness kind of what fall is all about?  And while bathing myself in hot buttered pumpkin spice isn’t really my jam (but if it’s yours, rock on! no judgement here), enjoying roasted vegetables on the regular?  That I can get down with.
*This recipe makes more sauce than you will use on the romanesco. Try it on a sandwich, on a baked sweet potato (or regular potato), on roasted beets, and so on. I originally tried to make it with half the amount of all the ingredients, but had trouble processing such a small volume as smoothly as I wanted in my blender. But if you have a mini-processor or blender and want to try halving the recipe you might have more success.
*I pulsed in the horseradish for some texture, but if you’d prefer a smoother (and probably slightly spicier) sauce, you can add it at the same time as the other sauce ingredients.

1 head of romanesco, trimmed of outer stems and stalk, cut into chunks
2-3 garlic cloves, lightly smashed with the side of a chef’s knife handle
2-3 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and black pepper
horseradish cashew sauce (recipe follows)
handful of fresh parsley, chopped, optional

• Preheat oven to 400˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Toss romanesco with olive oil, smashed garlic, salt, and pepper, and spread out on prepared baking sheet. Roast for about 30-35 minutes, stirring once half-way through, until nicely browned. Serve topped with a few dollops of horseradish cashew sauce and sprinkled with parsley (if using) and black pepper.

Yield: About 4 servings

Horseradish Cashew Sauce
1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours, drained
1 garlic clove
¼ + 1 tbsp water
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt, to taste
4 tbsp grated fresh horseradish

• Combine everything but the horseradish in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, stopping the machine to scrape sides as necessary. Add grated horseradish and pulse to combine. Taste for seasonings and adjust accordingly.

Yield: About 1 cup