I know these look like yam fries, they are stained orange from the paprika. I think I can safely say they’re even better than yam fries, more of an earthy robust taste that just doesn’t compare. The lime aioli is also spiked with garlic and begs you to drench every fry in it. Recently we ordered our bulk organic vegetables to store for the winter. Being relatively unfamiliar with parsnips, I only ordered 5 lbs. Now that I’ve tasted these I think I’ll be ordering more, the parsnip is a noble vegetable, it may look like a carrot but the texture and taste differ in a palate pleasing way.
We actually enjoyed these for breakfast with sunny side up pastured eggs, a great fuel for a productive happy day. It reminded me of being in some hipster cafe that charges fifteen bucks a plate. Parsnips, in reality are mighty affordable and wholly underrated. I can see the sign outside the bistro right now, “parsnip fries are the new yam fries” I wouldn’t contest.
Now if you want to make your own mayo, which I strongly recommend, check out this post on the easiest most foolproof way to do it. Also, feel free to switch up the aioli, I know not everyone in the world likes cilantro so even a simple garlic aioli would be stunning with these fries, they really are the star of the show.
3 large parsnips, peeled and cut into ¼ inch strips
1 Tbs smoked paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp sea salt
2 Tbs coconut oil, melted or preferred cooking fat
½ C mayonnaise
¼ C cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tbs lime juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F
Using a large bowl or ziploc bag, add oil, paprika, cayenne and salt. Add the parsnip strips, cover the bowl and shake until all the fries are evenly coated with spices and oil.
On a large baking sheet lined with parchment, spread an even layer of fries and bake for 30 minutes. For the last 5 minutes turn the oven to broil for extra crispy fries, just watch them closely.
Combine mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice and garlic in a jar and shake well.
Serve the mayo drizzle over the fries or on the side.
As a young girl I was given full freedom to experiment and have fun in the kitchen. I remember once combining raw rice, strawberry jello powder and flour resulting in a horrid red goo and a nightmarish dish to clean. My best friend growing up would always join in and together our cooking antics messed both our mothers kitchens daily. Our most memorable kitchen nightmare were the famous salsa sandwiches, we thought they were genius at the age of 9. Pitas stuffed with tortilla chips, salsa and cheddar. We’ve both come a long way, she’s an amazing chef at an accomplished Edmonton eatery and I write about my creations on this wee little blog. We all start somewhere, you can’t expect to not make mistakes in the kitchen. The key to finding your cooking mojo is to just have fun. Cooking is an art form and this quote rings true for me, you don’t hold back when you’re in love. You can’t. You can’t hold back when you make art of any type, or it will lack the essence of expression which has no boundaries or rules. So open your fridge, rip apart your cupboards, forget the rules, blend,mash,chop, throw together what inspires you. Okay there are basic boundaries an artist stands by, you want your paint to stay on the canvas, you want your food to taste amazing. Here’s my equation for creative success in the kitchen… Balance the sweet, salty, bitter, spicy, umami aspects and the rest is cake. If I’m making a salad for example this mandarin (sweet) kale (bitter) ginger (spicy) sunshine sauce (umami) lime roasted cashews (salty) I can use whatever I have on hand and create something delicious by following this simple guideline. Look closely at your favourite recipes and you will likely see this pattern.
Combine kale, mandarins and onion in a large bowl and set aside.
In a blender combine the sunflower seeds, lime, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil, ginger, garlic, salt and coconut sugar until smooth and creamy.
Coat the kale with ginger sunshine sauce and toss with cashews or additional sunflower seeds and sliced red chile (optional)
Lets be real, I like curry any time of year, but there is something extra grand about a rich, full bodied Thai curry when the snappy weather starts to hit. Especially one with juicy ginger infused meatballs and creamy coconut chile lemongrass gravy. Dull cloudy days call for meals like these, with some pillowy jasmine rice, or if your weird like us, leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. Unfortunately there was no turkey on the thanksgiving scene, since 2 people and a baby hardly qualifies for turkey feasting, a humble roast chicken gladly took its place. Though I suppose the real Canadian Thanksgiving is today, so technically we celebrate all that we are grateful for with this divine Red Thai Meatball Curry, and I tell you, it is worthy! Um, and guess what, on a side note, I built a table, yes the one beneath this meatball wonder meal. The only other thing I’ve ever built was a birdhouse, when I was 10. I think I may just have a new obsession, the chop saw, the gratification of slicing doesn’t end at vegetables, oh no, wood is just as fun. Building things is my new favourite fall activity, It’s surprisingly gratifying. Plans for a boot rack, bedside table and bookshelves are officially in the works.
7 Remedies For the Autumn Blues
Tea- drink tea, under a tree and watch the leaves fall to the ground on their way to becoming fertile soil for the oxygen giant to continue growing.
Snuggles- Find your lover, friend, child, cat or dog and cozy up under a warm blanket. There’s nothing like a good cuddle for boosting oxytocin (the love hormone) and making you feel a zillion times better.
Have a piece of pie- Welcome to pie season, where the apples and pumpkins almost seem to bake themselves. Even if you don’t normally make pie, try! This paleo pumpkin cheesecake looks epic!! (even though it’s not pie…)
Soak up the sun- Even though it’s a little more chilly out, it’s still important to get outside and absorb as much sunshine vitamin as you can. This is the time of year when our Vit.D banks are starting to dwindle, with shorter days and less skin exposed it might be a good idea to start supplementing.
Reflect- Autumn is a great time for reflection, look back on the last year and jot down what your grateful for, ways you want to improve, favourite moments from the last year. Don’t be critical of yourself, instead shift into a positive place where you can see that everything happened for a reason (even if you don’t know it yet).
Listen to the tunes you forgot about all summer- Or try an awesome playlist on songza, spine tingling piano serenades, celestial love, so many good ones.
Make some comforting curry and infuse your house with good smells!
Yes I just made that word up, Manguac, it’s great right, hilarious, it’ll be the next hummus I swear you’ll love it that much. Because what grows together, goes together, not that mangoes or avocados grow in my backyard,though maybe someday. So here goes, you’ve had mango salsa, now welcome mango guacamole, a new hero sidekick to top your grilled summer goodies. Manguac is splendid with grilled fish, BBQ chicken, pork chops, on a burger or veggie burger. I also just eat it with some fresh local greens as a salad, pack it to the beach and you are set!
An amazingly seasonal addition to this dish would be fresh local corn, honestly the corn right now is bonkers. Every summer I get that max. 1 month of the freshest, tastiest corn on the cob, I add it to everything. The best way in my opinion is grilled corn covered in butter or ghee. Yum. But grilled and added to this manguac is divine and makes it all the more delicious.
If you haven’t seen this video on how to easily peel a mango, check it out, the method of scraping the mango against a glass actually makes perfect sense.
Rrratatouille, it’s worth making, not only is it a palatable way to enjoy a smorgasbord of summer vegetable abundance, just the word ratatouille is fun to say. I love to enjoy ratatouille in a number of ways, traditionally it is a slowly stewed dish with herbes de provence, but I also love roasting it and layering the veggies all pretty like. The addition of pesto is magnifique, and unless I can find a fresh bouquet of herbs de provence I will use pesto to add the pizazz required for a special french dish such as this. You could also try adding brazil nut pesto instead of sunflower for an extra selenium boost. Now the possibilities for enjoying ratatouille are many. I love it as a simple elegant side dish with a roast chicken, or with poached eggs on top, ratatouille is also really nice with a soft cheese like chèvre and drizzled with balsamic reduction.
Heirloom tomato season is my absolute favourite, just look at those glistening sweethearts. The mad harvest is on, you can feel the end days of summer in the air. The time is now to enjoy the bounty and nourishment that summer gives us, replenish your stocks for that time that we’ll just pretend doesn’t even exist…
What I’ll miss most about summertime…
-the livin’s easy
-my baby can’t even crawl yet and I’m certain that won’t last into the Fall
-jumping in the cool but not too cool river everyday
-the abundance of local food and wild food everywhere
1/2 of a medium sized zucchini, cut into thin slices
4 medium sized tomatoes, cut into thin slices
1/2 of an onion, cut into thin slices
1 sweet pepper, cut into thin slices
Instructions
Pesto
Add basil, sunflower seeds, garlic,parmesan, olive oil and salt to a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
Ratatouille
Set oven to 375F
In a skillet or baking dish assemble layers of eggplant, zucchini, tomato,onion and peppers, working your way out to the edge of the vessel.
Sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper and drizzle 1/2 C of your pesto over top. The seeds will get nice and toasty in the oven and the garlic basil flavour will penetrate all your lovely layers. Bake for 20-25 minutes
This Balsamic Roast Chicken recipe is pretty enough to serve at a gathering of friends, with a nice glass of wine, but easy enough to throw together in a pinch. It’s one of my favourite ways to eat roast chicken, especially served alongside roasted fingerling potatoes and tomatoes.
Lately I’ve had a crush on balsamic, that lush black liquid mixture of sweet and tart all at the same time. I made a balsamic reduction, and the simplicity amazed me. I’ve always bought the pre made stuff and assumed it was difficult to make at home but it’s totally easy and you save a bit of coin. If you aren’t familiar with balsamic reduction, also known as balsamic glaze or syrup, it is the essence of the vinegar in sultry gooey form. It’s much sweeter than regular old balsamic, though Nigella Lawson adds additional sugar in her recipe for balsamic syrup (for use with desserts). A word of caution when making balsamic glaze, if you aren’t paying attention it can turn into one of those pots you have to throw away because whatever you burned in it is there for life. Eek. Yeah so just keep a watchful eye and it’ll be fine. The same goes for coconut oil and raspberry sauce, which I once forgot about and burnt down half of the bake shack at the restaurant I worked in. After I made this balsamic reduction we went for a little drive, for some reason I thought I’d left the burner on and we turned the car around, speeding home and praying for the house not to be on fire. Thankfully I was just being overly cautious, pretty sure balsamic would be nearly explosive in terms of fire starting foods. You can smell it strongly as it reduces, a saving grace, and if you have an overhead fan, you are lucky, my whole house infused with balsamic.
How to make Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients
-4 C balsamic vinegar
Firstly, you can make a large amount or small, double the recipe or halve it. The original amount of balsamic vinegar will reduce by about half if you desire a thin reduction or reduce it down to 1/4 if you’d like a thicker glaze like consistency. This is the basic formula, all you need to do is bring the vinegar to a simmer and stir it every now and again until it thickens up to coat the spoon and pan to your liking. Just keep a hawks eye on it, you wouldn’t want this black gold to burn.
Uses
-drizzle over sweet fresh berries
-use as a final touch on special dishes
-mix with olive oil for dipping bread or dressing potatoes
-great with pork chops and grilled steaks dishes
-serve on grilled peaches or nectarines with a nice soft cheese
-mix with melted butter to dress steamed green beans or beets
Balsamic Roast Chicken+ How to make Balsamic Reduction
Author: Chantelle
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (free run if possible)
1 lb fingerling or new potatoes
6-8 small fresh tomatoes, halved
10 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs balsamic reduction
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs dijon mustard
½ tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F.
In a roasting pan arrange chicken in the center, spread the potatoes around the chicken.
In a small bowl, mix together the balsamic vinegar, reduction, olive oil, mustard, garlic, sea salt and pepper and half the basil. Pour over the chicken and potatoes evenly. Put a lid on the roasting pan and place in the oven for about an hour and a half or until internal temperature has reached 175-180F ( cooking time depends on the size of your chicken- 1½ hours would be for a 3 lb. chicken)
Place the tomatoes on a separate roasting pan and sprinkle with sea salt, roast the tomatoes for about an hour.
Serve with extra fresh basil and balsamic reduction drizzled on top.
Hey I'm Chantelle, my alter ego would be a mermaid if I wasn't such a terrible swimmer. I love writing authentically and cooking in my pyjamas. My favourite pastimes include eating avocados, travelling the world and hanging out with a toddler.
