How you know you’re a grown-up, part 2: on a Friday night you review the Scholastic book catalog (why are there Star Wars video games in there, by the way? I don’t recall video games ever being part of the curriculum, or I’d have been a far keener elementary school student) and scrub the toilet, and eat parsnip soup.
Jocelyn shared this recipe for me, knowing, as we were members of the same CSA farm, that I had a glut of parsnips in the fridge. She made it and said it was the best soup she’s had in a long time. I’m all over that.
Parsnip Pear Soup
You’re going to puree everything anyway, so don’t worry about how you chop it.
canola or olive oil, for cooking
a blob of butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 ripe pear, chopped (don’t peel it)
1 tsp. curry powder
6 cups chicken stock
2 lbs parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 small thin-skinned potato, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper and nutmeg
1 can evaporated milk, or a big glug of half & half
In your soup pot set over medium-high heat, heat a drizzle of oil and spoonful of butter and saute the onion and celery for about 5 minutes, until soft. Add the pear and curry and cook a few more minutes.
Add the stock, parsnips, potato, bay leaf, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Bring to a simmer and cook until the parsnips are very tender. Puree with a hand held immersion blender (or transfer in batches to your blender) until smooth, adding the cream or evaporated milk at some point. Serves 4-6.
I’m sorry to say I need to take a bit of a hiatus from our Free Stuff Fridays – I seem to be spending a lot of resources these days (time + money) buying stuff and shipping/delivering it, which I totally don’t mind, but my less than stellar time management skills (coupled with Canada Post) have meant people aren’t receiving their stuff as speedily as I/they’d like, and so I’ve wound up disappointing people. Which is a) the worst feeling ever, and b) exactly the opposite of the whole point. I’ll have stuff again soon, I just have some catching up to do.
I still love comments.
October 23 2010 | soup | 26 Comments »
I think I may officially be a grown-up.
I rushed through a department store to buy socks and (practical) underwear today. I met with a speech therapist concerned with my kindergartener’s inability to properly say his Ls. I talked to neighbours about the parent council meeting. And when grandma took the boys to soccer, instead of getting some work done in the quiet house, I was more motivated to do something with the tower of potatoes and bunches of kale that needed using. Thus, Mike and I ate potato and kale galette for dinner, with a glass of zinfandel, and I was excited about it. Even though I ate at my desk and he in front of Dr. Who.
(Also? I’m very excited about these glasses. I got them at Nood. Guess how much? Six for a dollar. Six! One dollar. I’m totally done with stemmed wineglasses. They are not at all practical for curling up on couches or reading books in bed. They’re awkward to store and always look spotty.)
This galette looks scary – and it kind of is. But once you’ve done it, it’s not so big a deal. If you have a mandoline (my fingers are afraid of them) it will make slicing easy – but if you have a spanking new Japanese knife, it will be a snap. It works best if you have a nice big, heavy cast iron skillet – even better if you have two – one will make the bottom crisp and golden while the other weighs it down on top. I put a plate on top to invert it, and both times the bottom layer stuck to the pan, but then lifted off easily. No biggie. Just don’t make it on a night when you have people over who may be concerned with aesthetics and whom you want to impress. (Why are they over, anyway?)
It’s totally fine without cheese, but would be even finer with, I think. Crumbled goat or feta in with the kale, or grated Parmesan anywhere and everywhere. Don’t forget lots of garlic. I’m eating it as I type.
Potato and Kale Galette
adapted from Gourmet, September 2006
1 large bunch kale, tough stems and center ribs discarded
canola or olive oil, for cooking
a few tablespoons butter, soft or melted
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt & pepper
2 lb (about 4) thin-skinned potatoes
Pull the kale off the stems and coarsely chop the leaves. Toss them in a pot of boiling water (even an inch or two will allow the kale to steam), cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Drain well.
In a large, heavy skillet heat a drizzle of oil and a blob of butter over medium-high heat. Add the kale and garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until the moisture has cooked off. Set aside in a bowl.
Thinly slice the potatoes crosswise as thin as you can. Brush the bottom of the pan with oil or melted butter and layer in one third of the potato slices, overlapping slightly. Dab potatoes with some of the butter.
Spread half of kale over the potatoes, then another third of the potatoes, the remaining kale and the remaining potatoes.
Rub a sheet of foil with soft butter or brush it with oil, and place it buttered side down on top of the potatoes. Place a 10-inch heavy skillet on top of foil to weigh the galette down.
Cook over medium-how heat until the underside is golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove top skillet and foil. Set a dinner plate (as big as the pan) onto the top (a cookie sheet works fine too, but is a little more awkward to handle) and invert the galette. Slide it back into the skillet, browned side up, and cook, uncovered, until underside is golden brown and potatoes are tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Slide onto a serving plate. If any of it comes apart at any point, don’t worry – just stick it back together.
Cut into wedges to serve. Serves 4-6.
One Year Ago: Vietnamese Chicken Satay & Fried Rice
October 21 2010 | veg | 21 Comments »
It’s red velvet hot chocolate. Made with beets!! No food colouring! Here’s the recipe.
October 20 2010 | leftovers | 3 Comments »
I’ve been a bit of a total blubbering mess today. I was a wreck from the time the alarm went off at 6 (to make empanadas, dontcha know), having been up well after midnight watching Naheed Nenshi (whom I went to Junior High school with) win the mayoral race. Sniff.
Later in the morning I got to give him a big jumping-up-and-down hug – and then feed him a thick slice of cherpumple for breakfast, which I figured he’d need to power himself through today, but in fact more likely may have caused him to crash and burn before lunchtime. (Why was I in the position to feed Naheed pie-cake before 8 am? Because Tuesday mornings I’m on CBC radio, and today he was in the studio – after only 2 hours’ sleep – astoundingly coherent, unlike myself.)
But wait, it gets better. A couple hours later I got to bring afterparty treats for the citizenship ceremony at the CBC building, which welcomed 40 new Canadians of all ages from 16 different countries. There were mounties and families and kids dressed up with shiny patent shoes waving Canadian flags, but the bagpipes undid me. I think I was the cryingest person in the room.
So – what to make for such an occasion? I decided on maple walnut white chocolate chunk cookies, date squares, Nanaimo bars, maple syrup tarts and my Grandma’s butter tarts – you can’t get much more Canadian than that, can you?
Grandma Woodall’s Butter Tarts
Pastry for a single crust pie
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup or maple syrup
1 egg
“dump in a lump of butter”
1 tsp. vanilla
a handful of currants, raisins, and/or chopped pecans (she always used currants)
Preheat oven to 400°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out 1/4″ thick. Cut out circles using a 4″ cookie cutter or empty can, and press into ungreased muffin cups.
In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, corn syrup, egg, butter and vanilla. Stir in the currants and pecans, if you’re using them. Fill the tart shells about 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes, until bubbly and golden. Take them out of the pan using a thin knife to coax them out while they are still warm, otherwise any goo that has bubbled over will stick to the pan as it cools. If it does, pop them back in the oven for a minute to soften it again. Cool on a wire rack.
Makes about 18 butter tarts.
Grandma Woodall’s “Never-fail” Pastry
This will give you enough pastry to line a 9” pie plate; double it to make enough for two pies or a double crust. Some pie bakers swear by a teaspoon of vinegar added to their water to discourage the formation of gluten and make a tender crust, but it’s not necessary. Using all shortening instead of a combination of shortening and butter is OK too.
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/4 cup shortening, chilled and cut into pieces
2-4 Tbsp. ice-cold water
1 tsp. vinegar (optional, stir it into the water)
In a large bowl or the bowl of a food processor, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and shortening and use a fork, pastry blender, wire whisk or the “pulse” motion of the food processor to blend the mixture until it resembles coarse meal, with lumps of fat no bigger than a pea.
Drizzle the minimum amount of water over the mixture and stir until the dough comes together, adding a little more a bit at a time if you need it. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disc, wrap it in plastic and chill it for at least half an hour. If you are making a double crust pie, divide the dough in half, making one half slightly larger than the other. (Your pastry can be prepared up to this point and frozen for up to 4 months; let it thaw on the countertop when you need it.
October 19 2010 | dessert | 22 Comments »
Why should regular potatoes get all the attention? I love that these look like enormous worms.
Sorry – late night, looming deadlines, early morning. I posted the recipe over at the Family Kitchen.
October 19 2010 | leftovers | 5 Comments »
