Roasted Cranberry Parsnips

I am spicing up my snack time these day, going an extra step and actually preparing a little something rather then just eating a pound of carrots. Yes yes, a pound of carrots is a great snack, but there are so many other fantastic veggies awaiting my belly and I can only accommodate  so much at once. So today the carrots had to wait, it's time for the parsnips. 

After I made this and was eating it with all smiles and glee, I had the mr take a taste to see what he thought. What I learned is that If you do not like parsnips then you will not like this dish. But if you are awesome and do like parsnips, well then you will like this. But I guess if you like parsnips but don't like cranberries then you might actually not like this either.

So what I guess I am saying is if you like parsnips and cranberries, you will freaking love this. And this, these cranberry roasted parsnips, are great as a snack or as  a fantastic accompaniment to any meal that you will be serving anytime soon. It's quick and easy and delivers in all sorts of good ways, if you like cranberries and parsnips. 

The stuff. Parsnip. fresh (or frozen) cranberries, a little maple syrup, olive oil, and salt and pepper. 

Keeping it simple and just chopping the parsnip up into mouth sized pieces. If you are a peeler, go ahead and peel those parsnips first. Me, never a peeler. 

A little trick I have learned when roasting veggies is to roast them in a really hot cast iron pan. What I usually do is preheat the oven and while I am doing that I preheat the pan on the stove top. It gets hot fast and the veggies roast better when tossed into a hot pan. You can also preheat whatever dish you are using in the oven while it preheating. Whatever works for you. 

So parsnips Into a cast iron pan (or any oven safe dish) tossed with just a touch of olive oil and salt and pepper. 

Parsnips cook pretty fast so after about 15 minutes check for doneness. Once they are for tender and browning, toss the cranberries into the pan and keeping roasting.

Once the cranberries are all roasted and bursted and nice, remove the pan from the oven and immediately drizzle with a touch of maple (just a touch or else it will be too sweet) 

There you go. Simple, fast, and oh so delicious. 

Have an awesome weekend! 🥋🤾🏻‍♀️🎄☃️ (interrupt those any way you see fit)

-C

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Roasted Cranberry Parsnips

serves about 4 as a side dish  or makes for 2 good snack bowls

• 3-4 large  parsnips (but really as many as you want)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon maple syrup (the more the sweeter it will be)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425

Grab whatever pan or oven safe dish you are using and  preheat either place it in the oven while its preheating of if you can place it on the stove, get it really hot on a high flame.

Grab your parsnips and chop into about an inch sized pieces (or a good size that will fit into you mouth. Feel free to peel the parsnips first if you want to. Once the oven and pan are preheated, drizzle the parsnips with a tiny bit of olive oil and toss with salt and pepper. Place onto really hot pan and stick into oven.  Roast for about 15-20 minutes or until the parsnips are golden brown and fork tender. Remove form oven and toss in the cranberries. Place back into oven for about another 10 minutes or until the cranberries start to burst and get soft. Remove again and drizzle with a teaspoon of maple syrup (or more if you like it sweeter) 

Serve right away. 

Parsnip Cracked Pepper Dinner Rolls

This weekend was pretty fantastic. I got a lot of little things done around the house that needed to be done and spent half of that time hanging out in my pjs. (Pjs can be working loathes too) And all the while I was doing stuff, I was making these rolls. (I am nothing if not a great multi-tasker) That's my favorite kind of weekend.. Baking, while doing house chores. and maybe watching tv or listening to music. (or NPR.. but saying that makes me sound so old). I am like a little old house wife (I am close) and it makes me feel like I have achieved greatness!

And baking bread is the best. I love making bread. I  love the act of mixing and kneading the dough. The waiting and anticipation of the dough rising.The smells of good bread baking. It's a very cathartic experience, and it also results in some very tasty bread that, in my house, get's eaten at an alarming speed (fresh bread doesn't last long with the mr) But don't let all that time waiting around scare you away from making bread, cause when you take out the time spent letting dough rise, bread really takes about 8 minutes to make. And people who make fresh bread are always the coolest people. 

So these rolls. These rolls are soft and fluffy and tender,, slight sweet, slightly spicy, and all over freaking fantastic. I mean, it's parsnip and pepper so what can go wrong with that?. The mr ate a good few pretty much as soon as I pulled them out of the oven(again..fresh bread doesn't last long) and when I brought the rest over to my sisters house, those were devoured as well. Even the littles were super into them.  And I now that it's a few weeks away but…. Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away!!! It's creepy up oh so fast (as usual) and I am not going to let it get the best of me this year. And now that I got my roll game down for the big day (or 3.. there are 3 Thanksgivings that we are attending), I can move onto more pressing things.. like al the pies.(I'll be sharing some pies with you soon)

The stuff.  We gots some flour, salt, cracked pepper and a really big parsnip. Also have water, yeast, sugar and some melting earth balance . 

To start, chop up the parsnip into small chunks and stick them into a pot with enough water to fully semerge the chunks. Place on stove and bring to a boil then turn heat to medium high and let the parsnips cook.

Parsnips so pretty.

Once the parsnip are fork tender, strain the water (reserving 3/4 cup of that water) and puree the parsnip until smooth.

Take  that parsnip water and (once cooled a bit) place in bowl with the sugar and the yeast and mix it all around. Let sit for a few minutes until the yeast is visibly active.

Now dump the parsnip puree and melted butter into with the yeast and mix it all up

Salt, pepper, and flour mixed into a bowl

The yeast and parsnip mixture goes into the flour. 

And mix until it looks kind like this. When it's no longer mixable with the spoon, dump dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead, adding a little bit of flout to the work surface when needed to prevent it from sticking..

And keep kneading unitl dough is all nice and smooth and pretty.

Dough then goes into a lightly oiled bowl  and is covered with a towl and let to sit for about an hour until the dough doubles in size. 

When the dough has doubled, dump onto the counter and cut into 12 equalish sized balls. (my balls were not equal)

The balls then go into a  large, lightly oiled pan. Let those sit for some more time,covered with a towel, unit the dough  doubles again and the balls are all touching each other. They are ready to bake.. but right before you place them in the oven, brush the tops with a little melted earth balance.

And into the oven they go!!!

And when the rolls are all golden brown and smelling so nice, remove from oven. Brush tops with some more melted earth balance and sprinkle with salt and more pepper.

Serve up to people you like

Have a n awesome day!

-C

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Parsnip Cracked Pepper Dinner Rolls

Makes 12-16 rolls (depending on the size you make them)

• 3 3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 big parsnips (need 3/4 cups mashed parsnip)
• 3/4 cups parsnip water (the water you boil the parsnips in)
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 2 teaspoons cane sugar
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cracked pepper (more if you like pepper)
• 4 tablespoons melted earth balance or butter (2 for the dough- 2 to melt on top)

To start, chop parnsips into chunks and place into a pot full of water. Bring to boil and cook until the parsnips are fork tender. Remove parsnips from water and measure out 3/4 cups of the water and set aside Take cooked parnsips and stick in a blender and puree until smooth. Measure out 3/4 cups of the puree.(any left eat as a snack)

Let both the puree and water cool enough that  you can stick a finger in it and its not to hot (or a thermometer that says its below 110.. your call).

Once cooled, stick the water, sugar, and yeast into a bowl, mix around, and let yeast activate. When yeast is foamy and clearly noted that it is not dead, dump in the parsnip mash, 2 tablespoons melted earth balance,and mix together. And then for the flour. Mix in the salt and pepper to the flour mix in the parsnip yeast mixture until a dough forms. The dough should be a little sticky, but still workable. If the dough seems to wet, add in another 1/4 cup flour at a time, just till it is bot overly sticky. 

Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough starts to look glossy and ihas an elastic quality to it. 

Stick dough into a greased bowl, over with a towel, and place in a warm place for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. Once doubles, dump dough out onto counter and using a dough cutter or serrated knife, cut the dough into 12 -16 equal pieces Take each piece and roll into a ball and place into a greased 9x12 baking pan. Once all balls are in, cover with towel and let the dough rise  until the balls are doubled in size and are toughing each other,for another 30 minutes or so. Preheat the oven to 350. Once the rolls are double again, right before you stick them into the oven, brush tops with melted earth balance

Place rolls into preheated oven and baked for about 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. 

Remove and right away, brush on any remaining earth balance to the tops and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve right away! 

Best eaten the day the are made.. but will last a few days in an air tight container. 

Mustard Roasted Celeriac with Split Pea Gravy

My winter farm share is coming to an end this week. One more pick and then a three week stretch until the summer share starts… WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!! Stock up as much as I can is what.

I have been strategic about the roots and veggies that I have chosen to bring home the past few weeks.(My farm lets you pick what you want)  I know what I can buy at the store, things like carrots and potatoes, so I have been passing those up, but the roots like beets and celeriac… I have been bringing home baskets of those and hoarding them in the fridge and basement in preparation for the laps in farm fresh food and knowing that if I want to by these at the store it s going to coast me a million dollars  a pound. (a for real million dollars)

Yup, lots of roots around here, especially celeriac root which is fantastic. I am kind of obsessed with celeriac, with its fibrous, knobby exterior, soft but almost meaty texture inside, and a flavor that  is close to celery but so much better.  I don't know why it has taken me so long to do a posting featuring this amazing root vegetable  (I eat it almost every day)

So here, an amazingly tasty, hearty but not heavy, celeriac recipe.  Perfect for spring and the change into summer…. Mustard roasted celeriac with an fanatic split peas gravy that will have you licking you bowl clean.

 The stuff….For the split pea gravy we have a carrot, a parsnip and a large onion chopped into small chunks.  Salt, thyme, a bay leaf and of course the split peas. Then there is the celeriac root* sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds and some plain old yellow mustard .

*Note. I don't peel my celeriac root. I really enjoy the fibrous exterior but realize that some don't(The mister does not like it) so peel it if you want. 

Toss the chopped parsnip, carrot, onion and the spices into a pot on medium heat and let veggies sweat a few minutes until tender.  Add in the split peas and enough water to cover everything.  Turn pot on high and bring to a boil, then cover and turn to low. Make sure to give the pot a good stir ever few minutes and add more water if needed 

While the gravy is cooking,  take the celeriac rounds and brush each side with yellow mustard, sprinkle with pepper, and place on a baking sheet. Stick into the oven to roast for about 25 minutes, flipping the rounds after about 10 minutes.

Once the peas have soften, remove the bay leaf and puree until smooth and oh so creamy. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. If you find that the gravy seems to thick, just add in more water until it's the consistency that you want. The gravy is made, the celeriac is roasted… now we are ready to eat!! Stick the celeriac on a plate and dump good amount of that gravy right on top. Feel free to add a bed of spinach, or a grain or anything you want, because why not, and also some chopped tomatoes for a little acid and prettiness.

Serve with the fanciest knife and fork you can find. Extra yellow mustard and sriracha sauce are great condiments to have close by.

Happy Tuesday!

-C

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Mustard Roasted Celeriac with Split Pea Gravy

• 2 medium celeriac roots
• 6 tablespoons mustard
• 1 large carrot
• 1 medium parsnip
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2/3 cup split peas
• 2-3 cups water 
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons thyme or italian spice mix
• salt and pepper
• spinach (optional)
• diced tomatoes(optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Small dice the carrot, parsnip and onion and throw into a large pot. Spinkle with salt and pepper, add in the thyme and bay leaf and add a splash of water. Stick on stove on medium heat and stir. Let cook until the veggies become soft and fragrant. Now add in the split peas and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil then cover and turn heat down to medium low. Let cook until the split peas become tender (about 25 minutes) string on occasion and adding more water if the peas are not completely summered while cooking.

Once the peas are tender, let cool for a few minutes, remove bay leaf, and either dump into a blender or blend with an immersion blender until nice and creamy. If gravy seems to thick, add in more water. 

Scrub or peel celeriac roots and slice them into 1/2 inch think rounds. Place on a baking sheet and brush mustard on both sides and spindle with pepper. Stick into oven for about 10 minutes, flip, then back into the oven for another 15 or so minutes, or unit the celeriac is tender.

When the celeriac is done remove from oven and  stick a few rounds on a bed of spinach (or not, or any kind of grain or green you like) Top with a hearty helping of the gravy and toss on some chopped up tomatoes.

Eat with at knife and fork like a fancy person.