My CSA Journal V

WEEK #8:

Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Beets
Turnips (purple top)
Daikon
Parsnips
Celeriac
Garlic

From the Full Plate Farm Collective.

Carrot-daikon salad: see here

Beet vichyssoise: I heated some butter and olive oil in a heavy stockpot and fried two teaspoons of whole fennel seed for about a minute. Then I added one chopped medium onion and two diced medium carrots and sautéed until the onion started to brown, about 5 minutes. For the soup base, I poured in 1-2 cups of red wine and 4 cups of chicken stock, along with two teaspoons of ground ginger, 5 bay leaves, and a teaspoon of dried rosemary. After the liquid came to a boil, I added several handfuls each of potato, daikon, celery root, and beets. I topped off this mixture with water to cover and simmered for about 40 minutes, until the beets were tender. Finally, I removed the bay leaves and puréed with a hand blender.

[Update: the next day, I tried to make this soup a bit more substantial by adding more potato and lots of sliced mushrooms and cooking for another half an hour. The result was superb. The mushrooms provided a meaty texture that rounded things out.]

Celery root and carrot frittata: The sweetness of the celery root goes wonderfully with eggs. For this concoction, I fried one small diced onion and three minced cloves of garlic in olive oil until they started to brown. To this, I added a couple handfuls each of grated carrot and grated celery root, along with a teaspoon or so of dried rosemary and half a teaspoon of salt. While the vegetables cooked, I cracked four eggs into a bowl and beat them with a pinch of salt and lots of ground black pepper. When the vegetables were tender, I removed them from the heat, let them rest for a minute, and folded them into the beaten egg. I reheated the pan with more olive oil and poured in the egg mixture, cooking until the bottom was set, about 4-5 minutes. At this point, the pan would normally be put under the broiler to cook the top of the frittata, but I decided to flip it over instead, which I accomplished by sliding it first onto a plate and then quickly inverting it into the pan. It only fell apart a tiny bit. After another couple of minutes, the second side was cooked, and the frittata was ready to be served.


Parsnip cake: Here is the recipe for this cake from the Full Plate Farm Collective Recipe Wiki. The recipe is perfect -- rich and moist and cakey (i.e. not dense). It tastes like carrot cake, except that parsnips have a stronger flavor and are sweeter than carrots, so there is a wonderful vegetal component to the cake that is earthy and refreshing. I did not frost the cake, but a thin layer of lemony cream cheese frosting would be nice, I think. The recipe also recommends warm applesauce, which would definitely work well.

Update: the cake recipe is reproduced below, with some of my inevitable tweaks.

2 c. flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1 tbs. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. mild flavor vegetable oil (sunflower)
4 eggs at room temp.
3 c. peeled and grated raw Parnips (about 3 large parsnips)
1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. dried unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat a 10 in. bundt or tube pan w. butter.

Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

In another large bowl combine the sugar, butter and oil. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add one egg and beat well. Add about 1/4 of flour mixture and beat well. Repeat the process until all the eggs and flour mixture are added and well combined. Stir in the parsnips, walnuts, and coconut.

Pour the batter into the pan and back until a knife/tooth pick comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, set aside to cool on a wire rack to cool for about 10 min. Carefully remove the cake from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.