Winter Jewels

Photo via Perpetual Feast

This week's box is a classic mixture of winter root vegetables.  I'd love to give you some elegant suggestions you can use to show off your cooking techniques, but unfortunately this week doesn't lend itself to fancy-fancy.  This week is about home and hearth, comfort food.  From a cooking perspective, I think of a plate of root vegetables like this not as a dish to make better, but to avoid messing up.   The ingredients are going to work so well together, Mother Nature was our chef this week.

How does one "avoid messing up?"  Simple.  Peel it, cut into bite sized pieces, and toss with olive oil.  Generous salt and pepper and in the oven.  Around 350˚ for half an hour or so, put it on a plate.  Ta-da.  The "big secret" is to chop up all of the vegetables into equal size pieces as best you can.  They all have that hard texture, and they're all going to cook at pretty much the same rate.  By using equal pieces, they all cook in the same amount of time.

Photo via Food & Wine

Yes, there are some avenues for creativity.

• After you roast them, toss with some finely chopped herbs, like parsley.  A little thyme can work too.  Keep it simple.
• Glaze sparingly with something sweet, like honey or maple syrup.  Prepared this way, my 5-year-old thinks they're dessert.
• Toss with a little vinaigrette.  Again, use sparingly.  While that link only uses parsnips, any of these vegetables can substitute for each other.
• Roast them with an apple or some other winter fruit (cranberries, for example).

I guess the arrival of winter isn't all bad!

Thanksgiving Cometh

There's less than a week to go before Thanksgiving.  Has everyone gotten their menu settled?

Photo via wallconvert.com

I'd like to talk about what usually becomes a Thanksgiving afterthought:  the mashed potatoes.  On the Thanksgiving table, they're one of the least special items.  After all, we have them fairly often throughout the year, right?  So why are they supposed to be special on Thanksgiving?  Don't they almost have to be drowned out by the cranberry sauce and the stuffing?  No, I say!  They can hold their own!  By gosh, today they will be special!

Photo via About Food

But how?  What can make that starchy staple a standout?  Here are some tips:

• Wash the potatoes first.  Well.  Use a brush.  Then slice them into thin (maybe 1/4" to 1/2") disks.  They'll cook faster.
• Parsnips add complexity to the flavor of mashed potatoes.  Peel and slice them as thick as the potatoes, and boil then mash them together.
• Use a food mill to mash them.  That makes the smoothest potatoes.  That's how restaurants get that incredible texture.  It also makes peeling the potatoes first unnecessary.
• After you mash them, don't skimp on the salt and pepper.
• Put a complimentary flavor in with the potatoes.  For example, take 1/4 cup of the turkey drippings and mix them in with the potatoes.  If your stuffing is heavy on thyme or sage, put a hint of it in the potatoes too.  Other flavors that might compliment might be some mashed roasted garlic or a bit of horseradish.
• Fat makes mashed potatoes creamy.  Butter/margarine, sour cream, half and half, all are good options.  Of course, cheese is good (rumor has it that there is some amazing smoked cheddar at the store), or you could go all out.

Good luck with the potatoes!

Getting 'Snippy: Baked Parsnip Fries

I'm slightly obsessed with French fries and turning random vegetables into types of fries.  So last year when I received parsnips for the very first time I thought...let's make this into a fry!  Best idea ever!  Parsnips are pretty interchangeable with potatoes, so they work incredibly well as fries, plus they have that little parsnip umph that gives it something a potato can't.  So if this is your first encounter with parsnips...put a fry on it!

Baked Parsnip Fries

Ingredients:
2-4 parsnips, peeled and cut into French fry pieces
3 Tbsp olive oil
Garlic powder, Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste (Sprinkle on about 1 Tbsp of fresh rosemary for a fragrant kick!)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Toss parsnips in olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings to evenly coat.  Spread evenly onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.  Turn parsnips to allow to brown on all sides and roast for an additional 10 minutes or until they look nice and golden brown.

Serve with a sriracha mayo dipping sauce (mayo, garlic powder and sriracha all mixed up to taste), or get your hands on some Black Truffle Salt from Spice & Tea Exchange in Old Town and combine that with some mayo, a titch of olive oil and rosemary for a sinfully decadent dip.

Wine Marinated Pot Roast

This week, you'll have just about everything you need to make this wonderful pot roast. There's something about egg noodles that makes a hearty dinner just right.

Ingredients:
3 to 3 1/2 pound boneless beef chuck
1 (750mL) bottle red wine (I used Zinfandel)
salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 (10.5 ounce) can beef consomme
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 Tablespoons herbes de Provence
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
1 onion, sliced
4 carrots
4 parsnips
2 cups cremini mushrooms
2 stalks celery
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley
To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://bakedbree.com/wine-marinated-pot-roast

Quick-Roasted Winter Vegetables

You all know by now that the best way to cook up root vegetables is to roast them, why not do them all together in a beautiful mix? This will make a great side dish for the family or arrange them by color at your winter gathering.They keep really well, so you can store them in the fridge to snack on later. 

Ingredients:
1 lb. beets (about 3 medium), ends trimmed, sliced thinly (use a mandolin if you have one)
1 lb. carrots (about 5 large), peeeled, ends trimmed, sliced on a sharp diagonal 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. red onions (about 3 small), peeled, ends trimmed, sliced 1/4 to 3/8-inch thick
1 lb. parsnips (about 4 large), ends trimmed, peeled, sliced on a sharp diagonal 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. red potatoes (3 to 4 small), scrubbed, sliced 3/16-inch thick
1-1/2 lb. sweet potatoes (2 medium), scrubbed, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 lb. turnips (about 3 small), scrubbed, ends trimmed, sliced 1/8- to 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. acorn squash, ends trimmed, cut horizontally into 1/2-inch rings (trim away seeds by running a paring knife around the inside of the rings)

For the seasoning:
2 Tbs. vegetable or olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt; more to taste
1 Tbs. fresh thyme, oregano, or sage (roughly chopped) or rosemary (finely chopped) 

To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/quick-roasted-winter-vegetables.aspx?nterms=52350,53158,53160,53174

Roasted Parsnips

Those "white carrots" in your box this week are parsnips. Probably a very new root vegetable for you all to try. It was new to me too! Like I've said before with root vegetables, when in doubt, roast.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of parsnips, peeled and cut into 2 1/2 inch batons
4 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup of stock - turkey stock, low-sodium chicken stock or vegetable broth (for vegetarian option)
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 teaspoons drained, bottled horseradish
1/2 Tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 Tbsp minced chives
1/2 small garlic clove, minced

To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_parsnips/