Parsnip and Apple Has with Pork Chops or Monday Night

One of the joys of this project is that sometimes on a Monday night, after working all day, you just end up with a home cooked meal that looks like this. It might be at 9pm, but this is the kind of meal you can expect if you are a nice uncle who takes his nephew on adventures so his mom can work in peace.

I found this recipe for Parsnip-Apple Hash that I cut out of the newspaper way before I could identify a parsnip in a root vegetable line-up. I was digging through my box of recipes looking for a carrot bread recipe to make use of the glut of carrots we keep accumulating when I stumbled on this one. I also happened to have some parsnips from our Farm Box, so this seemed like a great idea.

1/2 cup diced bacon (I know! I've been meaning to make more bacon, but I want to get the pork belly from this new butcher shop in Los Feliz, and I haven't been over there, and it takes a week, and all that. Not to mention that it is mainly salted meat, and we decided a long time ago that salt doesn't count if it is the only ingredient. Anyway, I bought 4 slices of bacon at my local butcher. Sue me.) 
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1 small onion, cut into 1/4 dice (about 1 cup)
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 dice (This is supposed to equal 2 2/3 cups. Apparently these are parsnips from the land of Gigantor. I had six, petite parsnips and it added up to about 1.5 cups. I was worried, but it all worked out fine.)
1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped into 1/4 inch dice (about 1 cup)
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme (I didn't have this. Oh well)
Coarse Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Brown the bacon until crisp in large skillet over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon and set aside leaving the bacon fat in the pan.

Add the butter to the bacon fat. (That's right, I said add the fat to the fat) and onions and cook, stirring until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the parsnips, cover and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

 Add the apple, bell pepper and thyme (if you have it) and continue to cook, stirring until they carmelize a bit, about five minutes. 

Stir in the reserved bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with medium rare pork chops that were cooked by your handsome husband with butter, Pasta Seasoning (Ingredients: Onion, Garlic, Basil, Lemon Peel, Paprika, Fennel, Oregano, Black Pepper, Ginger, Thyme & Lemon Oil) and Season All (Ingredients: Salt, Spices (Including Chili Pepper, Black Pepper, Celery Seed, Nutmeg and Coriander) Onion, Paprika, Maltodextrin, Garlic, Silicon Dioxide (added to make free flowing) and Annatto for color) on the broiler for about 90 seconds per side, and a salad left over from Saturday night's dinner.

If you are really lucky, your handsome husband will also make his Grandmother's Hot Chocolate Pudding for dessert. And maybe someday he will write a post about it for you.

Winter Sunshine Latkas

This recipe was in the Los Angeles Times. I made it twice this week, once for my son's birthday, which was also the first day of Hanukkah, and for my community garden holiday potluck, which was the third day of Hanukkah.

1 cup grated baking potato, drained and firmly packed.
3 cups mixed root vegetables, peeled and grated (I used sweet potato and rutabaga the first time. The second time it was sweet potato and carrotts. They both turned out great.)
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup chopped fres parsley or cilantro (Leaves only)
Olive oil for frying
Yogurt or sour cream for garnish

1. In a large bowl, mix together the grated, well drained potato and root vegetables. Add the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and parsley. Mix well.
2. Pour 1/4" of olive oil into a large skillet and heat over medium heat until hot. To form each latka, use a 1/4 cup measure or ice cream scoop.
3. Form and fry a few latkas at a time (being careful not to crowd the pan), cooking tem until edges are crispy and brown, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove the latkas to a pack or paper towel lined plate, keeping them warm until all the latkas are fried. They are delicious served warm with yogurt or sour cream.

 

Cornbread Dressing with Roasted Fall Vegetables

This recipe is from Bon Appétit from November 2007

1 10 ounce bag pearl onions (if you can get multi-colored ones it is really beautiful)
2.5 cups carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch diagonal slices (about 3/4lb)
2.5 cups peeled and sliced parsnips (about 3/4lb)
2 cups 1/2 cubes peeled rutabagas (about 3/4lb)
2/3 cup olive oil divided
1 pound crimini (baby bella mushrooms) stemmed, caps halved (I don't like mushrooms so we didn't use any.)
6 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried crushed rosemary
1.5 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
6 cups 1/2 inch cubes Cornbread
3 large eggs, beated to blend (I forgot to beat them, just cracked them over the mixture and stirred... it was fine.)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1.5 cups chicken stock

Position one rack in the top third and one rack in the bottom third of the oven; Preheat to 425ºF. Cook onions is a small saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes. (This will take the tearing burn out of them.) Drain.
Cool slightly, trim and peel. Place onions, carrots, parsnips and rutabagas in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle 1/3 cup oil over and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper; toss to coat. 

Place mushrooms and garlic on another rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with remaining 1/3 cup oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to coat. Roast mushrooms and garlic on top rack until tender, stirring once for about 30 minutes. (Since I was not using mushrooms I didn't use as much oil and only roasted them for about 15 minutes). Roast root vegetables on the lower rack until tender and brown around the edges, stirring every 15 minutes for about 1 hour. (I gave them an extra 15 minutes). Add mushrooms, if using to root vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mash garlic with a fork until it's pureed. Add pureed garlic and herbs to vegetables and toss to coat. (I accidently mixed the herbs with the pureed garlic, which made it hard to toss with the vegetables, but I think it turned out OK.) Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

**You can do up to this point and make the cornbread a day ahead, which is a good idea because it is time consuming. Just let it cool, cover and stick in the fridge. Bring mixture to room temperature before continuing.

Place cornbread cubes on large rimmed baking sheet. Let bread cubes stand at room temperature to dry slightly for about an hour. 

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Butter 13x9x2 inch oval baking dish. Add cornbread cubes to vegetables; toss to distribute evenly. Add eggs, toss to coat. Drizzle with melted butter, toss to coat. Add chicken stock and stir to combine. (Mixture will be very moist) Transfer to prepared dish.

Bake uncovered until lightly browned and crisp around the edges, about 45 minutes. (We put this in the oven as soon as we took the turkey out. The timing worked out perfectly.)