Root vegetable tatin with candied nuts and blue cheese #Christmas #vegetable

Make this vegetable tatin with nuts and cheese as a Christmas showstopper. Perfect for a veggie family, it also makes a great Boxing Day buffet centrepiece.

Also try our other recipes > Award Winning Instant Pot Chili

INGREDIENTS

•  about 12-13 cm long, halved lengthways plus 1 large parsnip, peeled and grated
• 500g block puff pastry
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 slim carrots, about 12-13 cm long, halved lengthways
• 3 slim parsnips
• 2 heaped tbsp slightly salted butter
• small bunch sage, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 5 banana shallots, 3 halved lengthways, 2 thinly sliced
• 4 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated or crushed
• 125ml red wine vinegar
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g blue cheese, crumbled (we used Cropwell Bishop)

For the candied nuts

• 2 tsp butter
• 50g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 3 rosemary sprigs
• 25g caster sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll out the pastry to just larger than a 30cm diameter ovenproof frying pan and use the pan as a template to cut out a round of pastry. Leave in the fridge, or a cool place while you prepare everything else.
2. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the carrots and parsnips and cook for 5 mins. Drain and set aside to dry off slightly. Heat the oil and 1 tbsp of the butter in your pan and cook the sliced shallots and grated parsnips for 1-2 mins over a medium-high heat until just starting to brown, then add a good splash of water to the pan, stir to scrape up any brown bits, turn the heat down slightly, cover and cook for 4-5 mins, stirring every so often. The parsnips should be tender. Add the herbs and garlic and cook for another minute, then tip into a bowl, scraping out as well as you can. Season a little and set aside.
3. Add the sugar and vinegar to the pan and bring to the boil. Cook for a few minutes until syrupy, then stir in the remaining butter. Set aside to cool slightly, then arrange the vegetables in the pan, fanning them out. Top with the herby shallot and parsnip mixture, pushing it into any spaces there may be. Lay the pastry over the top of the vegetables and push in the edges a little. Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 mins until puffed and deep golden brown. 
4. While the tart bakes, put the nuts, sugar and butter in a small frying pan with a pinch of salt. Cook over a medium-high heat for about 5 mins, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved and coated the nuts. Add the rosemary for the last minute. Tip out onto a piece of baking parchment and leave to cool for a few minutes.
5. Once the tart is baked, remove from the oven and carefully turn out onto a serving board. Scrape out any bits that are left in the tin and add back to the tart. Bash the nuts to break them up and scatter over, along with the crumbled cheese.

Much has been said about the latest in the healthcare sector. Politicians' continue to bicker and have no solid plan to replace the current plan. Certain Analysts believe if this Trump Administration plan passes the Senate their proposal will leave over 23 million people without coverage by the year 2026. The Affordable Care Act law is and was simply put in place to help the American people who were once unable to get any type of coverage, finally get the care he or she may need. Secondly, it has also helped more than enough individuals with pre-existing conditions get coverage as well. And thirdly there is the concern of affordability; this is for people who do not have enough money to pay for insurance on their own, the current law provides financial assistance for those eligible to receive money from the government.

The problem with today's guidelines are the plans are based on: age, geographic location, the ability to pay, the rising cost of medical technology and taxes. Notice there is nothing mentioned about your overall health conditions. Until the underwriting process is brought back into the equation, then insurers' will never be able to accurately measure their risk and set premium prices at affordable rates. The message to insurers' is the fact that no one should be denied health insurance due to their finances or health related conditions to help protect against their financial losses when and if they occurred.

During this era a majority of insurance companies especially those that specialize in the health sector jumped on the band wagon with lower premiums knowing financial assistance would be there to help pay for coverage. Plans were and are designed to basically take the American peoples' money first before paying any claims. Once the claims began to come from more than enough people, then insurers' realized their premiums were set too low and began experiencing financial losses. There is no coincidence today why as consumers we hear about large health carriers pulling out of the marketplace and are no longer willing to participate this coming 2018 season under the ACA format.

The solution for consumers, we have to educate ourselves and grasp a good understanding and not listen to all the rhetoric in the media. We need a suite of insurance products to benefit us in the event there are some types of loss. Whether its a loss of life, the inability to work for certain period of time, or failing health our money needs to be protected at reasonable rates. Do this now while you are still healthy with the right kind of life and health insurance plans; underwriting is the key.

There are more than enough life and health insurance companies who offer benefits to protect your money. They never moved into this whole affordable care dilemma. Insurance today is still being sold on the premise of an individual's risk factors. These type of plans whether they are: accident, cancer, critical illness, dread disease, hospitalization, preventive care and wellness, also known as MEC (minimum essential coverage) or life insurance policies are and will always be available.

The Affordable Care Act is a good law that needs to be revised and not replaced. In today's environment of government uncertainty, why listen to such chaos? "People perish because of a lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6a. Now that you have been given this knowledge, perish not; be encouraged and do the right thing for your family and your finances.

Tweet