More about food.

This is from Jamie Oliver, an old Naked Chef episode (found it on FoodTV Website, from whom I also nicked the photo. Mine is not generally quite so pretty, but it doesn't last long, so it hardly matters.) (The food channel used to be so much fun.  What happened?)

Parsnip and Rosemary Tagliatelle

• 12  slices pancetta, or dry-cured streaky bacon
• 1 handful fresh rosemary, leaves picked or 1 handful fresh thyme, leaves picked or 1 handful fresh summer savory, leaves picked
• 4 good knobs of butter
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled, finely, sliced
• 2 parsnip, peeled, halved, finely, sliced, lengthwise
• 1 lb. dried tagliatelle
• 3  good handfuls grated parmesan cheese
• sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper

1. In a large, non-stick frying pan fry your pancetta and herbs in half the butter for 2 minutes on medium heat.
2. Add the garlic and parsnips.
3. Cook for a further 3 minutes, until the pancetta is slightly golden and the parsnips have softened nicely.
4. Cook your tagliatelle in salted boiling water (check the packet for cooking time), then drain, reserving a little of the cooking water.
5. Mix the pasta with the parsnips and pancetta and stir in the rest of your butter and the Parmesan, adding a little of the cooking water to loosen the mixture and make it creamy and shiny.
6. Season to taste.

I would then add, serve in a bowl.  Of course.  I don't do anything formal with slicing the parsnips though.  I do what Jamie Oliver did on the episode of the Naked Chef I lifted this dinner from: use a carrot peeler to make little pasta-like strips of parsnip, that way they disappear into the pasta and make this unexpected sweet bite in the dish. And I would probably add more than two, if they're little ones.  Also, I would start the pasta first, way before I start doing anything with my pancetta.  Oh, and when I misremembered procuitto for pancetta once I discovered that procuitto goes gloriously crispy in the pan, which can be fun.  But it doesn't make much fat, so keep an eye on it.
Fantastical good.

While I was hunting around for this on line - as an alternative to finding my cooking notes - I found another of his recipes, this one for beef and parsnip stew, which I think I might make this weekend.  Along with this, which I have longed for since Ysolda uttered (well, typed) the compelling phrase Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Yogurt Icing.  And me with a bag of Meyer lemons in the fridge.  How that happened I will never know.

Instead of making this one - the mahogany stew I mentioned - which is also good.  Though I used less hoisin and added about an hour to the cooking time - first two times I had it it was really good, but rather heavy - the third time I cooked it way longer and the meat broke down a bit more - much more delicious AND digestible.  I've had this with mashed potatoes under it - good.  But I like egg noodles better.  Nice wide ones.

Any other recipe questions....honestly, read Bakerina.  She got me cooking again after a long hiatus (read this and I dare you not to cook) and the lentil thing is all her fault.  Though I can't find the post with the balsamic dressed ones. (ETA: Aha!)

French lentils (the black ones are gorgeous, but they make the carrots brown looking and sad), cubed carrots, cooked until tender, toss with butter and balsamic, salt and pepper to taste, Israeli feta and slivered almonds on top is what I end up doing.
It might, or might not, be what she described.  Things get blurry in the middle of a love affair.

Comments

[colleen]

I made this on Sunday night--very, very good.

[claudia]

Keep this up, and even *I* will cook something.

[Rabbitch]

Oh gawd. I must -- MUST -- have those cupcakes.

[Phil Boncer]

That sounds delightful; I'll be trying that myself. Parsnips are my very favorite vegetable. I didn't get them often as a kid, since my dad hates them, but whenever we went to grandma's she would make them for me, and he couldn't do anything about it because that was *his* mom and she would "brook no nonsense" about it. :)

Thanks,
PhilB

[Kelly]

Thanks so much for posting the link to Bakerina's blog. I just spent the last hour going from link to link, copying recipes and trying not to drool all over them! You tagliatelle dish looks wonderful, by the way. :-)

[Sara]

Yum. Just yum. Gotta try the parsnip one - LOVE the peeler-slices of it so it's the same shape/mouthfeel as the noodles.

[ellen]

The "knob of butter" makes me think of my Irish grandmother. That's the way she measured for her cannot-be-replicated soda bread. This is the season for those delicious one bowl meals.

[Laurie]

That is a lyrical love song to cooking and food and nourishing the soul while doing so for the body. I loved it, and wanted parsnips SO BAD.

[Laurie]

That is a lyrical love song to cooking and food and nourishing the soul while doing so for the body. I loved and wanted parsnips SO BAD.

[k]

There was a long and involved thing that centered on Swedish Yellow Split Pea Soup, resulting in Wednesday being Soup Day in our house.
My turn this week.

[kmkat]

Oh, the mahagony stew has Hoisin sauce? My husband loves that -- I gave him a 4-pound can of it once for Christmas. Must. Try. That. Stew.

[Bakerina]

Oh, my word. I'm blushing to my roots. Thank you, darlingest.

Because you were not only so kind to me, but also sent so many new friends my way, I shall try to return the favor in some small way. The recipe of which you speak is here:

http://bakerina.com/bakerina/comments/im_back_back_in_a_new_york_mood/

[Jackie]

I have really been enjoying reading about your adventures/thoughts on food lately. I'm a huge fan of one bowl meals as well... and that pasta is making me very very very hungry.

[BigAlice]

It sounds very tasty, but... what the hell is a knob of butter? Is it some obscure British measure like 'stones' or 'furlongs'? I think this anal-ness in measurement is why I stick to Cook's Illustrated.

[Marin]

i have enough hobbies i have enough hobbies i have enough oooh did she say bamboo rice hobbies i have enough hobbies i have mmmmm lentils and carrots sound good enough hobbies i have enough hobbies jamie oliver nice i have enough hobbies i gingerbread cupcakes with lemon icing for christmas have enough hobbies i have enough hobbies i have enough hobbies

[Jocelyn]

Oh, now see? No fair. Here I am at work, unable to cook, and with nary a parsnip in sight (I'm with you on the parsnips, btw -- we love parsnips in our house; I don't think my daughters realize they're supposed to dislike them). I stole your brussels sprouts idea from the other day (happened to have some nice little fresh ones in the fridge), and we loved them (daughters asked for seconds -- it doesn't get better than that). Now I'm going to have to try all the recipes you've got here. But not all at once :)

[The Other Kristen]

I love, love, love parsnips, but I wasn't sure about the recipe when you mentioned it in an earlier post. Silly me. Guess what I'm having for dinner tonight!

[Tsock Tsarina]

I used to do something a lot like that with lentils. My mother's version also included bits of red onion and spicy sausage (alas for the long-lost spicy kielbasa...!). And some olives, I think? Must. Find. Notebook.

[cursingmama]

Re: Food Channel Demise -
I believe we have Rachel Ray - Sandra Lee and those pseudo chefs to blame. They make my eyeballs & ears bleed simultaneously.....I do miss Jamie.