Like A Carrot...Only Better.

It recently occurred to me that there are several vegetables currently in season that I am almost entirely unfamiliar with. Since I've vowed to try cooking with ingredients that are new to me, I figured I'd take some time this week to investigate the parsnip. Word on the street was that it resembled a carrot, but otherwise I knew absolutely nothing about it until I started researching. It is indeed related to the carrot, and in fact, kind of looks like its curvy, albino cousin. I tried a few raw pieces before cooking it and it really did taste a lot like a carrot, only slightly sweeter and with a hint of nuttiness. It had the exact same texture and was just as tricky to finely dice without it flying across the room or chopping my finger off.

I was surprised to learn that the parsnip originated in Eurasia, growing for some time along the Mediterranean. It originally grew about the size of a baby carrot and was considered a luxury item by the ancient Romans. Due to their flavor, parsnips were consumed sweetened with honey or in fruit cakes. The parsnip eventually outgrew the Mediterranean, moving north and increasing in size to become the parsnip we see today. They are harvested after the frost (hence their flourishing further north) since they require the cold to convert starch into sugar, giving them their signature flavor (otherwise they'd be a long, bland, super starchy potato), and making the fall and winter the time when they're in season. Parsnips are really durable and stand up to a considerable amount of flavors and preparations. They can be roasted, fried, steamed, braised or mashed, and work in everything from soups to curries.

I decided to go with a soup preparation since I really love purees but haven't really done very many this year. I don't really care much for the sweeter soups that are popular in the fall and winter (butternut squash, pumpkin, etc...) so I thought that maybe this would be a good way to kill two birds with one stone: start cooking with parsnips, learn to love sweeter soups. After looking into several recipes, it appeared that most contained leek or onion, chicken broth, and either a potato or carrot. I decided to go with all of those but the carrot, and throw in a little garlic for good measure. I also decided to make the soup creamy with a nice heaping tablespoon of sour cream, instead of the heavy cream I read about in every other recipe. And of course, because it's not my style to eat something so plain, I topped the whole thing off with some crispy bacon and a nice simple and spicy parsley oil (kind of like a chimichurri). Here's what I came up with:

Creamy Parsnip Soup with Bacon and Parsley Oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 large parsnips, peeled and cubed
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 Tbsp sour cream
salt
pepper
crispy bacon (optional topping)

Parsley Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
olive oil (about 1 1/2 Tbsp)
1/4 tsp red pepper flake
salt
pepper

1. In a large saucepan, sauté onions, parsnip and potato in butter and olive oil until just starting to brown. Add broth and cook partially covered until vegetables are tender,15 to 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine all of the ingredients for the parsley oil in a bowl and set aside.

3. Puree the soup in a blender until smooth. Check for seasoning and return to the saucepan. Stir in the sour cream until combined. If the soup seems a bit thick, you can add a few teaspoons of water to thin it out. Top with a swirl of parsley oil and a few bits of bacon. Enjoy!

-Laura

A Vampire's Worst Enemy

Continuing with my theme of comfort food (since I'm still walking up seven flights of steps), I made another excellent Spanish comfort food recipe. It's called sopa de ajo a la castellana, which translates to Garlic Soup, and sounds much more pungent than it actually is. Like the dish in my previous post, this dish has very humble beginnings in the peasantry. The ingredients for traditional sopa de ajo are only garlic, water, paprika, salt, olive oil and stale bread. That's it!

The version I made is not the traditional version, it's actually in the style of central Spain where they allow the bread to absorb all of the liquid, and then scramble an egg into the mixture. The result is a warm and comforting concoction with an almost pudding-like consistency. Despite the dish's name, the flavor is actually a lot more balanced than you would think. The paprika and olive oil do a lot to mellow out the flavor of the garlic, as does the bread and even the water, so don't be afraid, there are no overwhelming flavors here.

I don't think you can really get a sense of the lovely texture of the dish from the photo. It's slightly more velvety than something like porridge or cream of wheat, but just as warming and with substantially more kick. I really like making this dish on a genuinely cold night and curling up on the sofa with a blanket and a heaping bowl of it. And, it's a great way to use up leftover bread. In fact, the bread MUST be stale in order for the dish to cook properly. So the next time you have leftover crusty bread, wrap it back up in a paper bag and leave it on top of your fridge for a few days to harden. You'll be happy you did.

Sopa de Ajo a la Castellana

Stale bread (enough for about 3 cups of cut bread)
4 cups of water
2 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
3/4 Tbsp paprika
5 Tbsp olive oil
1 egg
salt

1. Cut bread into ringlets, about 1/2 inch thick and set aside. This MUST be stale crusty bread.

2. Add garlic to cold olive oil in a medium sized pot. Cook on medium heat until just starting to brown, then remove from the heat. When the oil has cooled, mix in the paprika. This is called a "refrito", and is the foundation for many dishes in Spain.

3. Move pot back on medium heat, and when the oil just starts to bubble again, add the water. When the water starts to boil, salt it to taste (I'd over salt a bit, since you'll be adding a great deal of bland bread). Slowly add in fistfuls of the bread, breaking each batch up with a wooden spoon before adding the next.

4. When all of the bread is added and almost all of the liquid is absorbed, add in the egg and keep stirring until it's cooked through and evenly distributed. Remove from heat and serve immediately (it will continue to thicken if it stays on the heat).

**TIP: If you'd like to try making traditional sopa de ajo, reduce the amount of bread by about half. This is a more soupy version, so don't wait for the liquid to be absorbed before you add the egg. If you want to be really traditional, skip the egg. But I like to think of it as a Spanish egg drop soup. Enjoy!

-Laura