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News and Views:
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Parsnips; or, The Last Shall Be First
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 For many northern gardeners, the sole surviving crop from last year’s garden is the first to be harvested this spring. Parsnips, unlike nearly every other vegetable, love to be left in the garden over the winter under a thick blanket of mulch. There, the cold converts their starches to sugars and the humble roots become sweet, crisp, and tender. As soon as mulch can be raked off the parsnip bed, the roots can be harvested. If you see freshly dug parsnips at a farm stand this time of year, grab them.
Looking like pale ivory carrots, but more broad-shouldered, parsnips are high in vitamin C and potassium. Wildly popular up to the end of the 18th century, parsnips suddenly were snubbed. (Was it Charles Dickens who associated parsnips with orphanage food and gave them a bad name?) At any rate, parsnips are poised for a comeback. They can be cooked like carrots, mashed like potatoes, or grated raw for slaws and salads. They add sweetness and texture to meat stews. While it may be true that "fine words will butter no parsnips," a nice glaze of butter and orange marmalade will dress them up beautifully.
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Orange-Glazed Parsnips
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| The butter braising brings out the parsnips’ sweetness. Makes a nice side dish with chicken, pork, or fish.
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1 pound parsnips
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup orange marmalade
juice of 1 lemon
Peel the parsnips and cut them into 1" lengths. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet. Add the parsnips, toss to coat, and add the water. Simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until tender when pierced. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the remaining butter, the marmalade, and the lemon juice. Turn up the heat and stir constantly until the liquid is reduced to a syrupy glaze. Spoon into a serving dish and serve hot. Makes 4 servings.
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Beef Barley Soup with Parsnips
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This easy soup develops even more flavor if made a day ahead.
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3 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces white mushrooms, chopped
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 pound boneless chuck steak, cut into bite-size pieces
6 cups beef broth or stock
4 cups water
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2" slices
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup pearl barley
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme)
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary (or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Heat oil in a heavy soup pot. Saute mushrooms, onions, and celery for about 5 minutes, stirring steadily. Add meat and continue to sauté until meat is browned. Add beef broth and water, pepper, parsnips, carrots, parley, tomatoes, thyme, and rosemary. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and cook until meat, barley, and vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in parsley just before ladling into bowls. Makes about 6 servings.
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Roasted Roots
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A roasting pan full of root vegetables is a fine accompaniment to any roasted or grilled meat, and couldn’t be simpler. Add more vegetables to your taste. Any leftovers can be chopped and fried like hash.
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1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2" slices
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" slices
2 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 branches fresh rosemary
coarse kosher salt
Combine vegetables and olive oil in a bowl and toss to coat. Strip leaves off the rosemary branches and toss the leaves with the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt to taste. Place in a roasting pan and bake for at least an hour at 350°F., turning vegetables with a spatula about every 20 minutes. Be sure all the vegetables are tender and lightly browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.
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How to Eat a Lobstah
(first you have to catch one . . . )
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| In Maine, the natives call ‘em "lobstahs." Marine biologists call them Homarus americanus. But you can call them lobsters, and nearly everyone calls them the ultimate treat. (Everyone, that is, except the long-ago Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony, who got heartily sick of eating the huge crustaceans that practically crawled into the cooking pots. If you were invited to supper in Olde Plymouth and served lobster, it wasn’t a compliment.)
The lobster fishery extends along the whole New England coast, but the finest, meatiest, sweetest lobsters come from the coldest waters. (That would be Maine.) If you don’t live within driving distance of a genuine Down East lobster shack, the next best thing is to order your own personal live lobster, packed on dry ice and shipped overnight. Just go to the Search box at www.digitalhearth.com, type in "Maine lobster," and you’ll have more choices than a lobster has legs. One of the best deals we noticed in early February was for six lobsters for $89.95, delivered, from www.MaineLobsterDirect.com. That’s a party! And it’s a great way to liven up the dreariest March weekend.
To cook your lobster(s), place two inches of water in your very largest kettle (a canning kettle is perfect as a lobster cooker), add a small handful of salt, and bring it to a boil. Grasp your possibly very wiggly lobster just behind the claws, drop him into the kettle, and clap a lid on top. (Add other lobsters, up to four per kettle.) When the water returns to the boil, cook the lobster for 17 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt a stick of butter (or more, depending on the number of lobsters) and squeeze some fresh lemon juice into it. Divide among a few small bowls. Get a large pile of paper towels or paper napkins. Place a large bowl on the table to receive discarded shells. Find all of the nutcrackers in the "miscellaneous" drawer in the kitchen, plus a sturdy scissors or two.
When the lobsters are bright red and cooked, haul them out with tongs, let them drip for a few seconds, and serve them up. All soft parts of the lobster are edible, but you have to work to get at them.
Twist off the tail and cut through the hard membrane on the underside to free the tail meat. Dip meat in the drawn butter. Mmmm.
The claw meat is even sweeter and more fine-textured. Crack open the claws with a nutcracker and pick out the meat. You might have to put the claw in your mouth and suck out the meat, and that’s OK too.
Those ten skinny legs each hold a tiny morsel of meat, too, which you get at by breaking the legs apart and sucking out the meat.
The red stuff inside some lobsters (females) is unfertilized eggs, called coral. You can eat it. The green stuff is called tomalley, and you can eat that, too, if it appeals to you.
When the bowl in the center of the table is piled high with lobster shells and your plate holds just a thin film of butter and lobster juice, you are done. Cole slaw, fresh sweet corn, a frosty bottle of beer — all of these things go well with lobster, but they are not essential. For a little while in your kitchen, it was bright summer on the coast of Maine and not a chilly March day with lowering sky and dirty snowbanks.
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Try Irish Stew for St. Patrick’s Day
(For all those who are Irish and those who wish they were)
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As a centerpiece for all the scones and boiled potatoes and green beer served up in the name of Ireland’s beloved fifth-century saint, try this delicious Irish stew, adapted from a recipe that first appeared in House & Garden in 1963. You can even make it in a crockpot (omitting the dumplings); brown the meat in a skillet and then combine all of the ingredients in your crock pot and let it meld for four or five hours on low heat. Either way, it’s a rich and filling stew, and even tastier the second day.
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds lamb for stew, cut in serving pieces
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cups beef stock
half a bottle (about 6 ounces) Guinness stout
6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 turnips, peeled and diced
salt and pepper to taste
Put the flour, salt, and pepper in a heavy plastic bag and shake to combine. Add the chunks of lamb and shake until the meat is coated with flour. Heat the oil in a heavy stew pot and brown the meat in the hot fat. Add the onion and cook until golden. Add beef stock and stout, cover, and simmer at low heat for about 1-1/2 hours. Add potatoes, carrots, and turnips and cook until tender, about 20 minutes longer. Taste, and adjust seasonings. Meanwhile, mix the dumplings, as follows.
Parsley Dumplings:
2 cups biscuit mix
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup boiling water or milk
Stir the biscuit mix, thyme, and parsley together. Add water or milk, and stir with a fork to moisten. Drop by spoonfuls on top of the boiling stew, cover, and cook for about 12 minutes, until dumplings are firm and light. Makes about 6 servings.
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