Happy New Year

So my New Year's Resolution is to remove Genetically Modified foods from my household pantry.  So far, I am off to a TERRIBLE start.  I started off 2013 with some sort of stomach bug, and all I could handle were GMO filled Saltine Crackers and GMO packed Popsicles.  But that's the good thing about New Years Resolutions, right?  You've got a full year to work on them!

(Other resolutions include waking up earlier, and fitting into a dress I found in the attic that I'm pretty sure was my grandma's - although that second one is going to be achieved by altering the dress, not altering me!)

I also recently heard a few rounds on Facebook of "eating healthily/locally/organically/sustainably/etc (not saying those are all the same thing) is just too hard/too expensive/takes too much time.  I am reinvigorated about proving that to be false! 

So, tonight's dinner, while not fancy, will fit those needs.

I do need to say that this is not Rachel's 30 minute meals (but to be fair, those aren't really 30 minute meals either!)  To me, "fast" doesn't necessarily refer to the cooking time - just to the prep time.  This one took me 16 minutes to peel and cut the vegetables, and in the 60 minutes it took to cook after that, I did a load of laundry, straightened the house and (how bout that!) typed the first half of this blog post.  You could even chop all the vegetables in the morning (if you're the kind of person who has that kind of time in the morning) so all you had to do was put them in the oven once you got home.

If you are afraid of beets, please don't be.  This was sweet and earthy, and would be a great dinner even if you weren't a little bit afraid of solid food.  Carrots and beets are still available at the farmer's market, and are generally pretty cheap.  I served this with a salad of winter greens and some leftover rice and vegetables from New Years Eve.

Roasted Beet, Carrot, and Ginger Soup

• 1 lb carrots, peeled and diced into about 1 inch pieces
• 1 lb beets, peeled and diced into about 1 inch pieces
• 2 large shallots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 4 or more cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 inch ginger root, cut into thin slices
• 1 to 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock, or water
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pinch allspice
• Juice of 1 lemon
• sour cream

Toss first eight ingredients, and bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes, until golden and caramelized.

Transfer the caramelized vegetables to a soup pan and pour in the stock or water, Worcestershire, and allspice .  Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, then puree using an immersion blender or by transferring in small batches to a blender or food processor.  Taste, and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

Now, normally when reading this recipe, I would think "what poor sap is using water instead of stock?"  But today, I was that poor sap.  I messed up my last batch of chicken stock and don't have any currently (by messed up, I mean left on the stove waiting for it to cool enough to go into the fridge - overnight.  Gross.)  It still had a lot of flavor, but I do feel that it missed something in the mouth-feel department without the silkiness of chicken stock.  Do wait until after you have pureed the vegetables to adjust the seasoning, because adding the vegetables in adds so much flavor.

I thought this was perfect with just a dollop of sour cream, but Jeff felt in needed a little meat and added three leftover shrimp from New Years Eve.  If you were in a meat mood, I think that you could really use anything in this.  Some spicy shrimp or crab, or a little bit of peppered steak.  When you're working with a budget, it's not about cutting out the expensive ingredients, it's about using them sparingly and in the right places.

Parsnips, and Canned Deliciousness

This is a parsnip:

If you've never had a parsnip, I feel bad for you.  On the other hand, I totally understand.  Prior to last winter/spring, I had never had a parsnip either.  They must last longer than potatoes, because you could find them at the winter farmer's market when potatoes were long gone.

Potatoes aren't gone at the market (that I'm aware of... I hope not!), but they are gone at my house.  And there hasn't been any farmer's market for two weeks, so I've got three choices: Sweet Potatoes, Parsnips, and Beets.  Sweet potatoes are a go.  Had them New Years Eve, and New Years Day, and there are more uses planned.  I do enjoy me some beets, but they also last very well in the fridge, so I'm letting them sit.  Plus I have them in pickled form, and I want to give that a try too.

So, like bird and Grease, parsnips are the word.

I would not recommend purchasing a parsnip at your grocery store.  At the grocery store, they seem to be vegetable candles.  It's gross and I don't get it.  But the parsnips are covered in a pretty thick layer of wax.  Apparently it's to seal in moisture and extend their shelf life.  But, according to the interwebs, parsnips stored in the refrigerator should last two to six months.   So... how old are the wax coated ones?!?

Anywho, parsnips often substitute for potatoes, but they're actually more closely related to a carrot.  And they taste kind of like a carrot, but sweeter... and less carroty... and a little more radishy... but not at all like a radish.

Confused?  Good, go buy one!

I've used parsnips in stews, and mashed like I did here.  I've also read that they make a mean chip, so that's an experiment for another day.  I need a deep frier!! (OMG! THE ONE I WANT IS ON SALE!  WHY DID I SPEND ALL MY MONEY ON CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!?!?!  BALLS!)

Since it's now easily available at the Winter Farmer's Market, I've got rainbow trout fillets stored away in the freezer.  I don't feel like rainbow trout is a very flavorful fish on it's own, but it takes on flavor well and because it's so think it sautes up well too.  I like to cook mine skin on, although I don't generally like to eat the skin.  I do need to figure out how to get the skin crispier.  That's always the complaint on Top Chef and Iron Chef and Chopped: Skin's not crispy enough!  I guess if I can't get it, I'm in good company.

I've found that salad is the #1 thing I've cheated on so far in my locavore challenge.  Especially around the recent holidays.  As I've said before, I'm always in charge of salad, and when I make a salad I make a SALAD.  A garden salad with everything that you could possibly pull out of your garden.  I never order salads in restaurants, because I never feel like they have enough STUFF.  A salad should be a little bit of lettuce and a whole bunch of STUFF.  None of these namby-pamby Caesar salads with lettuce and three croutons.  No.  STUFF.

Except, the stuff that goes into a salad isn't so much grown in Wisconsin in January.  And lettuce is.  And vegetables are good for me.  So I tried it.

Here, I just used mixed winter greens from Sweet Water Organics, topped with some of my own pickled beets and goat cheese.  I used a horseradish dressing on the whole thing, which I made with spicy radishes (but not horseradish) from the farmer's market.  The dressing was okay, but I wasn't super impressed with it.  The salad was good, and I think if I would have had a really good dressing, it would have been really good.  Not sure what exactly the right dressing was, though.

No worries.  I like goat cheese, and I like pickled beets, so I can keep experimenting with dressings until I find the right one!

Garlic Mashed Parsnips and Carrots

• 1 lb parsnips, peeled
• 1 lb carrots, peeled
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled and slightly smashed.
• 1/2 stick butter
• milk/cream to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Peel and slice the carrots and parsnips.  Add the carrots to a pot big enough to hold both the parsnips and the carrots and garlic, and fill about halfway full of water.  Cook until the carrots just start to get tender (about 8 minutes).  Add the parsnips, and cook until both parsnips and carrots are tender (carrots cook a lot faster than parsnips...).  Drain the water, add the butter, milk, salt and pepper, and mash just as you would  mashed potatoes.  Mash the garlic right in there with everything else.

Slightly Spicy Rainbow Trout

• 1 lb rainbow trout fillets
• salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper
• 1 to 2 tbsp butter

Season the trout generously with salt, garlic, and onion, and lightly with the cayenne.  Melt 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan over high heat, and place fillets in skin down.  Once the fillets are most of the way cooked through, flip and cook on the top for just a minute or so to lightly brown.

I had to do these in two batches, since rainbow trout seem to be thin and wide.  When I did the second batch, I had to add more butter.  You want to make sure the trout doesn't stick to the pan.

Tiny Carrots!

This year, my father grew carrots in his garden.  Tiny, tiny carrots.  And when he pulled them up, he gave a bunch to me.  Yay for tiny, tiny carrots!

They were, I have to say, spectacular.  Better even than the carrots at the farmers market.  But, I suspect a lot of that is due to the fact that I can't really eat a carrot.  It's on the list.  The day I get my braces off I am having a caramel apple, corn on the cob, Laffy Taffy, and carrot party.  So, really, any carrot would taste good.  But, I suspect these were still better than average.

Carrots are one of those foods that I kind of feel like it should be a crime to cook.  Carrots, peas, beans, and broccoli are all on this list.  I have not had any of those foods cooked in a way that caused them to taste better than the raw version.  And they're all so good for you - and cooking pulls out the nutrients - so why would you want to cook them?  But, if I would have just sat down and eaten them raw, I probably would have broken a bracket.  So I decided to cook them up.  Plus my dad told me that he was only giving them to me so he could see them written about on my blog, and I bet he wouldn't have been happy with this:

Sat on the couch.  Ate so many carrots my skin turned orange.*

*True story.  This happened to my aunt when she was a kid!

I also was left with the question of what to do with all the beautiful carrot tops.  Google "Can you eat carrot greens" and you will receive responses ranging from "Absolutely!  Put them in your salad!  They are delicious" to "Absolutely not!  They are poison and they will kill you immediately!"  So, for the record, I do not recommend eating carrot tops.  If you eat them, and they are poison, and you die, I cannot be held responsible.  Also, if they are a slow killer, and you die someday (like at the age of 97), you cannot come back and blame me.  Okay?  Good.

But I threw them in my freezer and I intend to put them in my chicken stock.  I did eat a leaf off of one, and it tasted like a cross between spicy parsley, a carrot, and grass.  Not something I would want to eat raw or even wilted, but I think it would add a nice taste to chicken stock.

The other exciting thing about this dinner is that I made it on a Saturday.  That very next day I was engaged in my normal Sunday behavior (cleaning the house and watching cooking shows) and the SAME recipe I made was featured on Good Eats!  It was an old episode (Garlic), but one I had never seen before.  The part that made me jump up and down and clap my hands with joy was when it came to peeling the garlic.  When I read the recipe, it said to leave the garlic in its paper while it cooked, and then run the whole thing through a food mill or fine meshed sieve to get the paper off after cooking.  "That sounds like the dumbest plan ever," I thought to myself.  "What possible benefit could come of that?  I'm just going to take the skins off now and mash the garlic at the end - save myself making a mess!"

And what did Alton say the very next day? "Traditionally, this meal is made by leaving the garlic in their papery skins while cooking, and then removing them at the end.  That seems to be to be a good way to make a mess and burn your fingers, and I can't see any benefit to it!"

Huzzah!

I modified my recipe from my Essentials of Slow Cooking Cookbook, but it is also very close to the one presented in Good Eats "In the Bulb of the Night".  I think I probably like Alton's better, because it is Alton's, after all, and because you end up with garlic oil.

This meal should have had mashed potatoes.  It didn't, and I was sad.

Garlicy Chicken

• 1 chicken (3 to 4 lbs), cut into serving pieces (L)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 heads (yes, heads!) garlic, separated into cloves, peeled and lightly smashed (L)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken stock (L)
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (L*)

Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper.  In a large dutch oven over medium high heat, warm the oil.  Working in batches, brown the chicken well on all sides.  Remove from the pan and set aside on a large platter.

Add the garlic to the pan and saute over medium heat until lightly golden brown.  Pour in the wine and deglaze the pan.  Add the chicken stock, and stir again, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  Add the chicken back into the pan and stir so the garlic is not trapped on the bottom.  Cover and cook on low until the chicken is tender and cooked through, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm, retaining any garlic cloves and remaining wine/stock/chicken juice in the pan.  Mash the garlic in the sauce with a potato masher, until the sauce is smooth.  Raise temperature to medium high and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Add thyme, and allow to simmer, uncovered, until sauce is thickened.  Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if necessary. 

Return the chicken to the pot and stir to coat the chicken well.

Honey Candied Carrots

The thing I found somewhat annoying about making this recipe is that none of the carrots were the same size.  When I make Jeff be my kitchen bitch, I always harp on him to cut things the same size so they cook evenly.  I can't do that, if the food is already different sizes to begin with.  I guess I could have cut all the carrots down to be the size of the smallest carrot... but that seems like a lot of work and I would have ended up with carrot mush, because some of these carrots were tiny.  So, instead, I sorted the carrots into different sizes and added them strategically to the pot so they were all done at about the same time.  What made it extra OCD was that I had to write down a list of what time each pile went in.  This list also included a diagram showing which pile was which number on the list.

I may be a crazy person.  It's okay, though...

• Salt
• 1 lb carrots (L)
• 2 tbsp butter (L)
• 3 tbsp honey (L)
• Freshly ground black pepper

Bring well salted water to a gentle boil over medium heat.  (A note on boiling vegetables.  As I said before, I am totally against cooking the nutrients out of vegetables.  So you want to use as little water as possible, and then, if you can, do something with that water so you're still eating it!  Put it back into your food!  But you certainly don't need enough water to cover the vegetables you are cooking.  In fact, I try to do half as much water as I have veggies...)

Once the water is boiling, add carrots and cook until they are just tender.  They should be soft enough not to break your braces off of your teeth, but still firm to the bite!  Remember, they're going to continue cooking after this, so they shouldn't be completely "done."  Drain carrots, and return to pan with butter and honey.  Cook until a glaze coats the carrots, about 5 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.