Tag: vegetables and soups

Thanksgiving or Pre Christmas?

Thanksgiving or Pre Christmas?

I actually didn’t get Thanksgiving when we lived in the USA. I couldn’t understand why what was a Harvest Festival should take place in late November. However it did start as a kind of Harvest Festival in 1621 as the new settlers had had a good harvest that year. Apparently it wasn’t until Lincoln in 1863 declared it a national holiday and in 1941 Roosevelt to abolish the confusion of which Thursday in November stated that it would be the fourth Thursday in November.

The USA is not the only country to celebrate Thanksgiving others included Austria, Brazil, Liberia, Canada, Switzerland and Germany, though whilst living there I do not recall any type of Thanksgiving celebration. However it all stems from giving Thanks for a good harvest.

I always felt that it was way too close to Christmas but I don’t think that I have ever cooked a TRADITIONAL Christmas dinner, let alone a Thanksgiving one , however, this year somehow or other we are having a family dinner, here next Sunday. Fortunately we changed our dining table about 2 years ago, so now we can seat 14 easily and on a round table !

So I have been thinking and planning now for a few weeks. We will be 14 ranging from age 81 to 3 years old. Actually the little ones eat well, with a favourite dish being Pad Thai, whilst the older grandchildren have gone from being the most difficult children in the world to being gourmet diners, with oysters, squid, octopus and steak tartare amongst their favourites!

My FESENJAM ( aubergine dish which I made a few weeks ago) is safely stored in the freezer, along with dishes of buttered mashed winter root vegetables ( carrots , Swede, turnip, celeriac, parsnips). Passion fruit and mango ice cream, likewise has been made and obviously frozen. Another must for Himself and son in law is a crumble, it varies with the seasons, and this one is no different, being made with plums, apple and frozen mixed berries. This too is frozen ready to go.

Cooked and ready to be frozen

One of my favourite do ahead potato dishes is gnocchi made with potatoes. It is a bit fiddly , but it can be made over several days and freezes really well, which means that double or treble the quantity can be made, well in advance , flat frozen ( so they don’t stick together) and some can be pulled out as needed. I made enough for 14 people so I used several kilos of potatoes, but here is the basic recipe, which can be easily doubled or trebled.

1 kilo of potatoes

135 grams of plain flour

130 grams grated Parmesan cheese

1 whole egg, beaten together with 2 yolks

Teaspoon salt

Peel the potatoes, cut into chunks and boil gently until cooked . Drain and leave to cool. When cool push through a potato ricer ( or sieve), into a bowl.

Add the flour, cheese and beaten eggs and mix well ( can use an electric mixer). Place sheets of cling film on the work surface and spoon 20-25 cm of mixture on the cling film, leaving space at each end to to tie the ends up. Repeat until all of the mixture has been used.

Boil some water and cook the gnocchi rolls for 15 minutes, and then place in some iced water to cool them down. At this point, they can be refrigerated overnight.

Stage 2, unwrap the gnocchi and cut into

2 cms slices. Put some flour into a dish, dust the gnocchi with the flour and fry in butter or olive oil until golden brown on both sides. Drain on some kitchen paper paper and then place on a flat baking tray. Repeat until all of the gnocchi mixture has been used. At this point the gnocchi maybe flat frozen until needed.

To use, simply defrost, and reheat either in a frying pan or in the oven. They can also be used as a small starter or as a canapé. for example with a tomato fondue or mango chutney ( can be bought) or as a canapé, with Parma ham and blue cheese.

Moving on, I made my ice cream. When passion fruits were very much in season I bought several and kept the pulp which I froze until ready to use. I always use Ben and Jerry’s basic recipes for making ice cream and this time was no exception. According to Ben and Jerry ( they are real people) the list of fruit ice creams is pretty endless, with Banana having no added sugar to apples and raspberries needing a fair amount. However, I would go with the basic and have a taste ( what a good excuse) and add more if it is too tart. They didn’t actually have a passion fruit recipe, so I had to wing it, starting with a sweet cream base. However before you start switch on your ice cream maker if you have one to make sure it is cold OR have a container in the freezer also that it is cold.

  • 3 Cups double or whipping cream
  • 3 whole eggs whisked for about 2 minutes
  • 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
  • 1 very ripe mango chopped into small bits
  • Pulp of 5+ passion fruit

To the beaten eggs add the sugar and blend well , then add the cream and finally the fruit.

Pour into the container / freezer unit/ ice cream maker .

If you are simply pouring into a container in your freezer, then give it a stir about every hour so that it freezes well throughout. Cover until ready to use.

I did go a bit overboard with desserts, it is something I only do for guests, so I made a burnt basque cheesecake ( in a long tin for ease of serving)with blackberries, chocolate and coffee semifreddo,mixed fruit crumble with crème anglaise, passion fruit ice cream and brandy snaps.

Brandy snaps, I haven’t made in years but they are easy and fun to make.


50g of caster sugar
50g of golden syrup or corn syrup
50g of butter
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp brandy
50g of plain flour
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Preheat an oven to 170°C/150 *C fan /gas mark 3

Place the sugar, golden syrup, butter, lemon juice and brandy in a small saucepan and heat gently to melt butter and to dissolve the sugar
Leave to cool slightly adding the flour and ginger, beat to a smooth paste

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and drop 4 Teaspoons of the mixture at intervals along the tray. Smooth out into a circle with the back of the teaspoon.

Bake for 6–8 minutes until golden brown

Leave to cool slightly before rolling around the handle of a wooden spoon to shape or can be moulded round a cup cake. Place on a wire cooling rack and leave to set until hard and cool. Can be eaten as they are, filled with cream, dipped in molten chocolate . Best eaten on the day they are made but if any are left they should be stored in an airtight container!

Happy Shopping

Parsnips those limpid and plaid vegetables!

Who doesn’t love parsnips? Well, weirdly, they were not part of my life growing up and I do not understand why! My parents always had a vegetable garden and were very much self sufficient, as was the norm then. We / They grew everything then, but as I remember everyone else did so as well, but I don’t remember parsnips, nor Swede, nor turnips. Yes cabbage, yes Brussels sprouts, yes to beans and peas, but no spinach, no kale, yes it is odd and unfortunately my mother is not alive and neither is the lovely Auntie Brenda, who would have told me everything! The next bit, I’ve no idea how true it is, but we lived in Belgium for 13 years and I do believe that they don’t eat Swede or turnips because of the world wars. They ate them then, rather than give them to any livestock that was still alive ( well who wouldn’t) but since then No! True or False? I’ve no idea, but I have to say, I don’t recall seeing either in the supermarkets, or indeed in my local street market.

But back to parsnips. I made soup the other week with parsnips, which even though I say it myself was absolutely delicious ( and I am not a big soup fan)! Not being content with making one Parsnip soup I made another ! The first was parsnip and caramelised onion and the second was Parsnip, celeriac and mushroom, the celeriac came into play simply because I had one in the refrigerator which cried out to be added to the soup, and it certainly gave an added flavour. I had been a bit wary of parsnip and mushroom but I needn’t have worried as again the finished result was good. And then yet another ! Curried Parsnip Soup! Overload perhaps? So now himself has a stock of soup, packed and frozen ready for His Lunch ! I pack them in portion sized, flat, and then I vacuum seal to minimise the space they take in the freezer.

Flat packed soup ready for freezing prior to vacuum sealing.

What else do we know about Parsnips? Well they have been around since ancient times, in fact well before we in Europe had Potatoes or sugar, both of which came from the New World, and honey was expensive. Parsnips are sweet and in the past were used in all sorts of ways, simmered in wine with olive oil, enhanced with spices, in a sauce with with celery seed, coriander, stock, raisin wine and oil or even a vegetable sausage, mixed with spelt, eggs and nuts. They are an excellent source of Vitamin C and E and of course starch and fibre.

Parsnips in a greengrocers or super market don’t really look that exciting, sometimes limp , certainly frumpy and pallid, even carrots look more exciting, but parsnips, they exist alongside Celeriac which in itself is not a pretty vegetable!

Celeriac, slithers of parsnip in a salad and Jerusalem Artichokes

Parsnips can of course be made into a gratin alongside other root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, celeriac and Jerusalem Artichokes.( Fact about Jerusalem Artichokes, they are not Artichokes and they done come from Jerusalem ! They are part of the Sunflower family, hence in the USA they are called SUNCHOKES!)

Roast parsnips are lovely and even better when just before serving they are drizzled with some lemon juice and maple syrup. Another idea is sautéed parsnips in which they have been cut into batons, blanched sautéed in butter with some orange juice, both of which are reduced to a light glaze. And not forgetting Parsnips crisps which are easy to make.

Parsnip crisps are the quickest to cook of all root vegetable crisps to make. Heat the oven up to 160 /140 fan. Use a mandolin or a vegetable peeler to make thin strips of parsnip.

There is no need to peel your parsnips, just wash and dry them. You don’t need very much oil to make vegetable crisps, they need the thinnest of coatings. 

Pop your strips into a bowl, add your oil and flavourings( such as chilli oil, sea salt, roaemary and then tumble them onto a baking tray, and then make sure that they do not overlap at all!m
Cooking time will depend on how thin or thick your strips are. Keep a close eye on them and whip them out when they are browned. You may need to take some off the tray when brown and return the slower ones to the oven for a few minutes more.
Cool them on a wire rack to help them crisp up even more. 

Parsnips can also be eaten raw and in a salad. Again, using a vegetable peeler make strips of parsnips and half of them in a bowl with lemon juice and leave to soak for about 45 minutes. The other half deep fry, or as above crisps in the oven. Use these parsnips along with lettuce, rocket ( arugula) some chopped nuts, maybe some olives and some feta cheese.

But back to soup. Variations on a theme, the basic quantity of vegetable is a kilo, so doesn’t matter if you are making Parsnip soup, Carrot and Parsnip, Parsnip/Mushroom/Celeriac or Curried variations or what ever the combination you choose. So here is the basic:-

  • 1 kilo of parsnips peeled and chopped
  • ( 2 large onions sliced finely for the caramelised onion soup only)
  • 2 large onions chopped
  • 1lite of vegetable or chicken stock ( cubes or powder will suffice)
  • 300 mls crème fraiche
  • Salt and pepper to taste

For the caramelised soup, start off by gently sautéing the sliced onions in butter or olive oil until they are crispy and brown, remove from pan and drain on paper towel. Put to one side.

In a clean pan, add some more olive oil and sauté the chopped onions, until soft but white. Add the parsnips, and then the stock and simmer until the parsnips are very soft. Purée them in a blender or hand blender, return to the pan and stir in the crème fraiche ( or cream ), season to taste with salt and pepper.

When making a curried version, whilst sauteing the onion add a tablespoon of spoon of curry powder and mix / sauté with the onions and then follow as above.

Curried version

When making the Mushroom version, just follow the original version but adding the mushrooms to the sautéed onions and fry until they are soft before adding the parsnips and stock.

Mushroom version

For the caramelised version serve with a few of the onions floating on top of the soup, and for the others garnish with some coriander, parsley or rocket leaves.

Caramelised version