A Good Dish

making food simpler

Befriending the Under Appreciated Parsnip

Roasted Parsnip “Fries”
Glazed Porcelain Dish by Andrew Martin

I will never say that parsnips are my favorite vegetable but I have learned to enjoy eating them. They are inexpensive compared with greens, even the organic ones – and we should be buying organic when we buy roots because washing doesn’t remove many pesticides. Also, when roots are organically grown, you don’t have to peel them and there are nutrients in the skins. Plus, they are one more vegetable available to us in winter.

Raw parsnips at the Union Square Greenmarket

Parsnips have a strong but sweet flavor, less cabbage-y than turnips, but also less sugary than beets. Raw parsnip adds another layer of flavor when shredded into a beet or carrot salad. One very tasty way to eat them is cooked and mashed with carrots (1 parsnip for every 2 carrots) with a little butter and salt and pepper. Parsnips can be mashed or pureed alone with a little butter or olive oil or mashed along with potatoes (and celery root) to lighten them up. For those who like things richer, there are versions with cream and nutmeg.  If you make vegetable chips, either by baking or frying, try including parsnips. Cream of parsnip soup, with roasted chestnuts is delicious but a bit more work. I often add a small parsnip (or half if they are large) to a pot of chicken or vegetable stock to enrich the flavor but be careful of the amount because parsnips, like turnip and cabbage, can overwhelm the flavor. A little goes a long way.

Parsnips cut into mostly equal “batons” for even roasting

Aside from mashed with carrots, my favorite way to eat them is simply roasted, preferably with a little maple syrup, which helps caramelizes them. If you have lots of vegetables (like carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, celery root, potatoes, etc.) to roast, you can just add some sliced parsnips along with the rest. But if you want to cook them alone, roasting is the way to go.

Parsnip and carrot mash
Glazed bowl by Janice Tchalenko

OVEN ROASTED PARSNIP “FRIES”

  • 6-8 parsnips, scrubbed with ends cut off
  • 1 TBs olive oil (or 2 if you don’t use maple syrup)
  • 1 TBs maple syrup (optional but intensifies caramelization)
  • Sprinkle of salt

Slice the parsnips and mound on a rimmed cookie sheet or roasting pan.

Mix oil and maple syrup together and drizzle over parsnips, sprinkle with a big pinch of salt and toss.

Spread pieces out flat on the pan and roast in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking, but watch to make sure they don’t burn. Ovens all cook differently.

A few variations:

  • Sprinkle with thyme and/or chopped rosemary, za’atar or cumin along with the salt, with or without the maple syrup
  • Sprinkle with cinnamon and/or orange zest for “sweet fries”
  • Add toasted, chopped walnuts when serving
  • Add a pat of butter to hot, cooked parsnips and toss to melt
  • Substitute melted coconut oil for the olive oil
  • Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving

Easy Winter Salads – Two Ways with Beets

Cooked beet salad (top) – oval bowl by Robbie Lobell
Shredded beet salad – Shino glazed oval bowl by Malcolm Davis

From November until about mid-April, most fresh, local salad greens are absent from our markets. Sure there are the packaged lettuces that have been flown or trucked in from California or Florida or Mexico. We can find local greenhouse grown micro-greens but they are pricey. I do buy and use them but try not to do so everyday. So during the winter we eat different kinds of salads composed primarily of winter storage vegetables – beets, carrots, cabbages, radishes, red onion, parsnips and kale. Fall fruits like apples, pears and pomegranates and winter fruits like grapefruit, persimmons and oranges liven up any of these salads adding needed zest and fresh flavor on dark nights.

Add-ins: watermelon radish, walnuts, raw apple, cilantro

It may not be the first vegetable you might think of but beets make delicious salads when cooked and when raw. Some people find them too earthy (one friend says they taste like dirt!) but well prepared, beets are sweet and flavorful. Additionally, they are nutritious and full of dietary fiber. They are high in natural sugar so should be eaten as part of a meal alongside protein and fat. Beets are now available to buy cooked in supermarkets (I’ve seen them at Costco, Trader Joe and Shoprite) so composing a cooked beet salad couldn’t be easier.

Dressed shredded beet salad with add-ins

Two of my favorite winter salads are beet based, one made with cooked and one made with raw beets. The dressings are very similar but the outcomes quite different. These hearty salads have the benefit of being able to last in the refrigerator for a few days so I can make a big batch for dinner and eat it again for lunch (travels well) the next day or even the day after. The shredded beet recipe came from a class on reversing inflammation at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School and I have added and subtracted ingredients to suit my taste preferences. There are many possible combinations and optional ingredients. Find the ones that work for you. You can make either a main course by adding a crumbly cheese or hard boiled eggs or upping the amount of nuts. Since a beet salad is my mother-in-law’s favorite and it is her birthday this week, I’ve included 2 (and both easy) recipes. Happy Birthday, Salli!

Shredded beet salad in oval bowl with shino glaze by Malcolm Davis
Cooked beet salad in oval bowl by Robbie Lobell

Shredded Raw Beet Salad

2-3 medium-large beets, scrubbed clean and grated (I use the large holes on my box grater) –Use an apron – beet juice stains!
2-3 carrots, likewise scrubbed and grated
A big handful of chopped parsley
A big handful of raw or toasted walnuts, chopped coarsely (or pistachios)

Elective additions:
Fresh cilantro or mint, chopped
Red onion, finely minced
Watermelon or daikon radish, thinly sliced or diced
Celery, thinly sliced
Apple or pear, match-sticked or diced
Orange segments
Orange zest
Cinnamon or a little cayenne pepper

Possible toppings:
Toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds
Crumbled Feta or chopped hard boiled eggs (if you want to make it a main course)

Dressing (Whisk in a bowl or shake in a jar)
3-4 TBs freshly squeezed lemon (or orange) juice (depending on how citrusy you want it)
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
2-3 Tablespoons olive, avocado, or walnut oil or a blend
A little knob of ginger, about 1 TB grated (optional)
Zest from one lemon (before you juice it) (optional)
Pinch of salt and pinch of black pepper
Toss all together and let sit in the refrigerator at least one hour but longer is better – it gets sweeter!
Note – I don’t like a lot of dressing but if you do, simply double the amount of dressing or halve the amount of grated vegetables.
6-8 servings, keeps well in the refrigerator 3-4 days

***

Cooked Beets with Vinaigrette

6-8 small, 4-5 medium, 2-3 large cooked beets, chilled, peeled and sliced or cut in wedges – if you don’t want your hands stained with beet juice, wear rubber or latex gloves to handle beets

Optional additions:
Nuts, raw or toasted and coarsely chopped
Parsley, chopped
Lemon or orange zest
Thinly sliced red onion, soaked briefly in water to remove sting, if you like
Raisins or currents
Toasted or raw pumpkin seeds
Hard boiled eggs, quartered or chopped

Whisk together:
2 TBs freshly squeezed lemon (or orange) juice
2 TBs Dijon mustard
1 TB apple cider vinegar
2 TBs olive oil
1 tsp dried dill or 1 TB fresh dill, chopped
A big pinch each of salt and black pepper

Pour vinaigrette over beets (and whatever else you chose to add), toss and chill at least one hour. Lovely served over fresh arugula. Serves 4-6 and keeps well in the refrigerator 3-4 days.

Community Supported Agriculture – The Membership that Continues to Feed Us

A sample week's share
A sample week’s share

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a partnership in which individual farms are supported by customers/members who pay up front for a season of vegetable deliveries. We have belonged to a CSA for 21 years, since our son was born. Our first farmers, Hugh and Hannah from Threshold Farm, stopped making city deliveries after 7 or 8 years to concentrate on their local community and their orchards (but we have followed their progress and family over the years and still buy delicious apples, dairy products and vinegar from them when in Columbia County). Our current CSA – Roxbury Farm, to which we have belonged for more than 10 years now, was one of the first to start coming to New York. We receive not only amazing vegetables every year, but also learn so much about farming and the farming life from their thoughtful and insightful weekly newsletters, including recipes for each week’s bounty.

Produce in bins to be picked up by members
Produce in bins to be picked up by members

basilOur current farmers are not only organic but also biodynamic (as were the first), so they farm without pesticides. Their knowledge and practice provide us with a steady source of nutritious and tasty food, including their own lamb, pork and beef which can we order from their website. Every week we pick up whatever 8 – 12 vegetables they picked that that were ripe that week, except in the fall when there are squash, garlic, and onions, etc. that have been aged appropriately so we can store them. We get everything from sugar snap peas, scallions and asian greens like mizuna or tatsoi to basil, dill, cilantro and parsley to tomatoes, broccoli rabe, sweet corn and buttercup squash, to name just a few.

Since we get whatever they grow, I try things I might never have purchased because I wasn’t familiar with them or didn’t think I liked, such as beet greens, celeriac, and Swiss chard, all of which I now have learned to prepare and enjoy. Because their newsletters keep us informed of their weekly struggles (like equipment, insects and the effects of weather on crop outcomes), as well as interesting essays on farm life and work, our farmers have become the rock stars of our summers and autumns; They provide us not only with produce but also remind us of the hard work and commitment demanded in cultivating the land, growing, harvesting, and delivering those vegetables. We feel deep gratitude to Jody and Jean Paul, and their crew, as we collect our share each week and when we eat it.

snow peasIn recent years, we have subscribed to their winter box program, a 30 lb. box of winter storage vegetables that comes monthly December through February. That means we have local carrots, beets, cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, celeriac, garlic, watermelon radishes, squash and potatoes for most of the winter. All I have to do is supplement with greens or frozen veggies until the spring crops appear at the farmers markets.

If you are interested in joining a CSA, check out the Just Food website – justfood.org/csaloc – for NYC. For locating a CSA in the tri-state area, localharvest.org is a useful site. Different states and areas of the country have their own websites. Just search CSA and the name of your state or part of the country. Or try https://pubs.nal.usda.gov/organizations-and-websites-related-community-supported-agriculture. It’s an easy way to support local farms, get fresh, local produce directly from the farmers and connect to a community of people who care about well grown food and the people who provide it.

Roasted Delicata squash from Roxbury Farm CSA Plate by Liz Quackenbush
Roasted Delicata squash from Roxbury Farm CSA
Plate by Liz Quackenbush

1- Invite Friends Over 2- Make a Pot of Soup 3- Plan How to Move Forward

Curried Lentil Soup Porcelain bowl by Andy Brayman
Curried Lentil Soup
Porcelain bowl by Andy Brayman

I meet more or less monthly with a group of women organized by one friend who knew the core group primarily, but not exclusively, from her children’s schools or activities. It is a varied group of teachers, artists, writers, attorneys, non-profit administrators, media producers and art historians – a not atypical cross-section of smart, engaged and progressive city dwellers. We usually meet in a neighborhood bar or restaurant but this week we were meeting at my apartment – coincidentally at a moment when the comfort of a home and of home cooked food meant more than usual.

In the wake of the electoral earthquake to which we woke up last week, we all need soothing of one sort or another. I thought about making a typical comfort food like pasta or grilled cheese. But because so many people are watching their carb and gluten intake, I opted for a vegan soup and salad.

The recipe for the soup I chose is an expansion of a curried lentil recipe from Julia Turshen’s new book, Small Victories: Recipes, Advice and Hundreds of Ideas for Home-Cooking Triumphs. I added some ingredients, changed the amounts of others and morphed a lentil dish into a soup. You can add additional vegetables to the leftover soup or it can be cooked down to serve over rice. The vegetables in the recipe are optional but add a lot of texture and nutrients. This fragrant soup tastes even better if you make it the day before you want to serve it. Just be careful to rewarm it over low heat as it will easily scorch (yes, I know this from experience!) Feel free to fiddle with the amounts, spices and ingredients yourself until you come up with a taste that pleases you. The additional vegetables are optional but add a lot of texture and nutrients. I find this soup quite soothing and fortifying, feelings we can all use a little more of stumbling into the social and political unthinkable that lies ahead.

Curried Lentil Soup with Cilantro Bowl by Andy Brayman
Curried Lentil Soup with Cilantro
Bowl by Andy Brayman

Curried Red Lentil Soup

  • 3 TBs olive, avocado or grape seed oil
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 3″ knob of ginger, minced (about 1/4 cup)
  • 1 red onion, minced (about 1 cup)
  • 2 tsps cumin seeds
  • 2 tsps ground turmeric (or grate fresh if you have it)
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 2 cups split red lentils, washed
  • 1 can(4oz) of chopped green chilies
  • A big handful of cilantro, stems and leaves chopped separately
  • 2 cans(13.5oz) coconut milk (I used one full fat and one reduced fat)
  • 3 cans of water (use the empty coconut milk can)
  • 3 carrots, diced (optional)
  • 3 stalks celery, sliced thinly or diced (optional)
  • 1-2 cup small pieces of cauliflower (optional)
  • 1 cup frozen peas (optional)

 In a medium stockpot, heat the oil and add the garlic, onion, ginger and spices.

Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking, until soft, about 5-6 minutes.

Add the chilies, lentils, coconut milt, water, cilantro stems and 1 tsp of salt.

Bring to a bowl and then lower to a simmer, cooking for about 10 minutes.

Add vegetables (except peas) and cook about 10 minutes more. If you want to throw in a handful of a green like arugula or spinach with the frozen peas at the end, do it just a minute before turning off heat.

Serve with chopped cilantro, lime wedges and crumbled sweet potato chips.

Serves 4-6 as a main course and 6-8 as a starter.

Sunlight contains all colors
Sunlight contains all colors

Sharing the Cooking: An Easy Vegetable Dish to Transport

Broccoli with Garlic, Currants, Chili Flakes and Pine Nuts Flameware Casserole Dish by Robbie Lobell
Broccoli with Garlic, Currants, Chili Flakes and Pine Nuts
Flameware Casserole Dish by Robbie Lobell

We were invited to dinner at a friend’s house last week and when I asked what we could bring, she said she would love a green vegetable. Of course, I thought, there can never be enough vegetables! Sounds simple, right? A vegetable is one of the easiest parts of a meal to cook but one to transport takes a little forethought. You don’t want to arrive with ingredients and be disruptive by starting to cook in the midst of your host’s preparations. You want a dish that is ready to put on the table.

I know lots of people want their food to be served piping hot. Not moi. I don’t care one bit, especially with an unsauced vegetable dish, if it is hot, warm, room temperature or even cold. I think many foods, like cruciferous vegetables, taste even better at room temp than hot. But temperature is a consideration, since you can’t really travel and produce a steaming hot dish on arrival. Planning on bringing a room temperature recipe is most likely to succeed.

If it were springtime, I might make and bring a platter of steamed or roasted asparagus, always well liked and travel hearty. In summer, I like to bring a platter of raw veggies or sautéed summer squash with julienned carrots, if a salad isn’t wanted. In winter, I might offer roasted root vegetables. Now that it is autumn, I thought about broccoli or broccoli rabe, sautéed with garlic and chili flakes or blanched watercress with a sesame vinaigrette and toasted sesame seeds. Since I had 2 heads of broccoli in the fridge from that week’s farm share, I just sautéed them with a few additions. If you like broccoli rabe, you could make it the same way only you would blanch it for a few minutes and drain before adding it to the sauté. Both hold up very well to traveling and taste good at room temperature.

Bunch of Broccoli Rabe
Bunch of Broccoli Rabe

Lastly, I remembered to bring the broccoli in a serving dish so my friend wouldn’t have to scramble to find something appropriate while trying to get her dinner on the table. Ditto for a potluck. If there is sauce or dressing involved in your dish or just to keep everything clean and tidy, bring your contribution in a covered container and then transfer to your serving bowl or platter when you arrive. You have to carry the food anyway, so a plate or bowl and even utensils won’t add much weight. I often use a lidded Pyrex that can double as a serving dish. If you aren’t coming from home, it might be best to offer drinks or dessert. And there are always flowers!

Broccoli Rabe with Garlic, Currants and Chili Flakes Flameware Casserole Dish by Robbie Lobell
Broccoli Rabe with Garlic, Currants and Chili Flakes
Flameware Casserole Dish by Robbie Lobell

BROCCOLI with GARLIC, CURRANTS, CHILI FLAKES and PINE NUTS

  • 1 large head of broccoli, cleaned and cut into florets and stem sliced or 1 bunch broccoli rabe, cleaned, cut into bite sized pieces, blanched 3-4 minutes and drained
  • 2 TBs olive, avocado or grape seed oil
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2-3 TBs dried currants (if you don’t have them, you could chop raisins)
  • 1 large pinch dried red chili flakes
  • 1/4 cup raw or lightly toasted pine nuts (or another nut, if you prefer), optional

Heat a large sauté pan and add oil until hot.

Reduce heat and add garlic and stir until starting to soften, about 30 seconds.

Add currants and chili flakes and stir another 30 seconds.

Add broccoli and a big splash (about 1/4 cup) of water or stock and stir until liquid evaporates and broccoli is barely soft enough to pierce with a fork. Err on the side of undercooked as it will continue to cook and there is almost nothing that smells worse than overcooked broccoli.

Remove from heat and from cooking pot in order to stop cooking. If using broccoli rabe, add and cook just to heat through and be well mixed.

Sprinkle nuts on top, if using, and toss.

With the addition of carrots - looks festive!
With the addition of carrots – looks festive!

Note: Robbie Lobell’s work, along with many other fine potters, will be for sale at the Holiday Sale at the Old Church Art School in Demarest, New Jersey the first weekend in December.