Food News with parsnips

Food news you can use: Tuesday night PBS' Frontline in conjunction with the New York Times exposed the gargantuan snake oil sham that passes for the food supplement business. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is as it seems: more than half the bottles do not contain one iota of what the lead product is promised to be. They're full of powdered poison from China. Half the fish omega oil is rancid, i.e. toxic. And worst of all, there is absolutely no evidence that absolutely any of this stuff actually helps you. Much of it can kill you, or some functioning part of you like your liver.

So again, the moral is: eat real food your great grandmother would've recognized, the widest variety of it you can get your teeth on. And mostly plants. That's were so many honest nutrients are, you shouldn't need supplements.

More food news you can use: I attended a talk by Oxford food historian Bee Wilson whose brand new book, First Bite, explains that all of our eating habits are learned. None of them come naturally. Unfortunately we learn most of them when we are most vulnerable to the influence of others, at 2 and 3, and what we learn to like then we tend to keep for life as "natural." But eating habits can be changed, literally bit by bit, which is to say by tasting the tiniest little shreds of stuff you've never tried before or disliked as a kid. Once...twice...three times.  Diets can be expanded. Again, eat real food, mostly plants, and all will be well.


Wilson did bring up the tricky issue of palateability, something food processors have mastered to the bliss point. The fact that we've now all learned how to "burn" Brussels sprouts to bring out their incredible flavor is the reason this formerly shunned veggie has soared in popularity. Ditto cauliflower. It's no longer bland white mush.

So in the interest of palateability and nutrition, here's a new recipe to bring another hermit vegetable out of hiding to the table: the parsnip.  They're available at farmer's markets now and will be especially plentiful in March/April because when they winter over--one of the few vegetables that can stand their ground in snow--they become ever so much sweeter, and popular.

They're a food supplement, full of Vitamin C, magnesium, Vitamin B-6 and a good bit of iron to boot. So tempt your taste buds with this silky rich soup.

Parsnip Chowder, with mushrooms and shallots

Serves 4-5

3 lg parsnips, peeled and washed

1/3-1/2 lb. mushrooms, cleaned

½ sm roasted red pepper, chopped, or 1 tbsp chopped pimentos

1 sm onion, peeled and diced

2 shallots, peeled and diced

1 tsp. cumin seed

½ tsp. celery seed

½ tsp. ground coriander

½ tsp. ground cumin

4 tbsp. butter (1/2 stick)

3 c vegetable broth or water

1 12oz can evaporated milk

½ c half ‘n’ half or light cream

½ tsp. salt (more to your taste)

Freshly ground black pepper to your taste

½ c cracker crumbs or crumbled croutons

¼ c finely chopped fresh flat parsley leaves

Slice the peeled parsnips into thin disks. Cut the larger disks in half so all pieces are close in size for better cooking. Chop mushrooms.

In a medium size, heavy gauge pot, melt 3 tbsp. butter. Add onion, shallot, mushrooms, cumin and celery seed. Stir to blend and sauté until vegetables are soft. Add parsnips, ground coriander and cumin. Stir to

blend and sauté 60 seconds. Cover the pot contents with broth or water, bring to a boil, cover the pot and lower heat. Simmer 10-12 minutes until parsnips are tender but not mushy. Add liquid if necessary so there is always some even with the top of the vegetables.

Stir in the evaporated milk and half ‘n’ half, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until soup is hot. Do not boil. Stir in 1 tbsp butter, the crumbs and parsley. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve hot.