The Humble Parsnip (plus bonus glaze link!)

You know those vegetables that looks like creepy albino carrots? Well they are PARSNIPS and they are DELICIOUS!

Tender sweet starchy goodness. They also have this lovely clove-y taste to them.

Here is a super simple recipe to showcase my new favorite vegetable:

Roasted Carrots and Parsnips

Ingredients:

• Carrots, cut up into large-ish chunks
• Parsnips, cut up into large-ish chunks. (Slightly larger than the carrots, because they cook a little faster)
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Dried Rosemary (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400. Put veggies in a baking dish. Glass, metal, ceramic. Whatever. Just not a cookie sheet, since it would leave an oily mess in your oven.

Add a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary to taste. You should salt rather generously. Toss to coat.

Roast in the oven for around an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. When the veggies are done, they'll be tender and just a bit charred.

EAT

Orrrrrrr, if you're feeling fancy you can make this simple honey-balsamic glaze for the veggies, as can be found here.

AND, just for the record, roasted veggies are just as delicious at room temp as they are piping hot, so they're a good option for pot lucks, barbeques, fancy pants dinner parties--whatever.

Authentic Chickpea Curry

http://indianfood.about.com/od/vegetarianrecipes/r/chole.htm

This is delicious. But do NOT quadruple the amount of chilli flakes. Not even on ACCIDENT.

If this minor catastrophe does occur, just add a little sour cream or plain yogurt. It will make you cry less while you eat the curry, not that I would know.

Another note, I used tomato paste rather than fresh tomatoes. I also used fresh ginger and garlic rather than pastes. Use a blender to make the tomato/ginger/garlic paste if you have one. If not, just grate the pieces of garlic and ginger into a bowl. It works just about as well. This paste also freezes quite well. You can make a double batch and then save half for a quick curry prep later.

I've also made this without cardamom and cloves because I don't usually have those on hand.

Another another note, you can buy garam masala in the normal spice section. It's a blend of cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, coriander, black pepper, and I think cloves. It's also AMAZING on fresh pears sauteed in butter.

Oh yeah, you can also add some parboiled potatoes to the curry!

Nina's Spanish Chickpea Thingy

This is so ridiculously good. As with pretty much every recipe I post, the amounts are flexible. Adjust to your taste. I've provided amounts to give a guideline, but whipping out the measuring cups would probably be a waste of dishes.

This dish is actually pretty quick if the potatoes are already boiled. If you're going to boil potatoes, always throw in a few extra to make into hash browns, add to omelets, or throw into dishes like this one. It takes a little bit of planning ahead, but it's pretty brainless. "Put potato in boiling water. Boil. Poke with fork. Boil longer if too hard. Poke with fork. Take potato out of boiling water. The end."

Ingredients:

• 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 can of chickpeas or around two cups of cooked chickpeas. (Rinse if using canned)
• About a 1/2 cup of salami all cut up. I bought a 150 gram package of salami sliced lunchmeat style and then cut it into smaller pieces. Think 1/4 in. squares, roughly. Salami with a bit more fat and pepper is a good idea, flavor-wise.
• 2-3 medium sized boiled, peeled potatoes, cut into bit size cubes.
• 1-2 cups of cut up mushrooms. (Use fresh for this recipe. The canned ones won't taste right).
• A few sundried tomatoes (the kind packed in oil) if desired
• 1/2 cup or so of fresh sugar snap peas, cut into bite size pieces.
• Salt and pepper
• A bit of cayenne or chili flakes
• Some smokey paprika (optional)

Instructions:

Put chickpeas and salami in a bowl with olive oil. Stir to coat and allow the ingredients to marinate in the oil for 20-60 minutes.

Cut mushrooms, potatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and snap peas into bite sized pieces.

Place a large, heavy skillet over medium or medium-high heat. Let it warm up. Add chickpeas, salami, sun dried tomatoes (if using), cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to prevent burning. Let it sautee until it becomes warm and aromatic.

Add the mushrooms. Continue stirring periodically. Let it go until the mushrooms are cooked. They'll be dark and tender.

Add the potatoes and sautee until they're warmed up. Add snap peas at the end and cook until they're just crisp tender.

Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.

EAT.

This keeps in the fridge quite well, so make a lot. In fact, it just tastes better as it sits in the fridge longer (though I wouldn't freeze it).

Nina's dad eats this with ketchup... don't know that I'd recommend that one, but I thought ketchup junkies might like to know about it anyway. Just throwing it out there.