grab sunday by the sweet and curlies

I love these Sundays: lazy, vague, dreamy, mine to spend poking and scuffing around a cold and woolly city. And with the dark drawing in so early, time to see out the weekend with a slow, long meal.

It makes sense that, as winter really kicks, all the seasonal vegetables go underground and look like shit. I picked up a knobbly load of them at the Islington Farmer's Market yesterday - Jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, giant parsnip - and put them to good use in a variation of Chew's Artichoke Bake. As good as I remember it the first time around, this really is a proper, rich and silky mid-winter Sunday dinner (I included parsnip, leek and celeriac between artichoke and potato layers - with parmesan and fresh peas on top for added crunch).

While waiting for the root bake, I made the following sweet and nutty plate of yummy goodness to sit alongside it.

Sweet Curly Kale and Beets

1 small onion, grated
2 bunches of kale (wash the leaves, rip them off their spines and chop them well)
1 beetroot - peeled and cut into sticks
1 small handful of toasted pine nuts and slivered almonds
1 teaspoon of honey
1 splash of orange blossom water (if you have it)
4-6 dates, chopped
salt, oil and butter



Melt a chunk of butter in a few good glugs of oil. On low heat, soften the grated onion. When it is getting sticky (6-8 minutes), add the chopped dates. Let it all caramelise slowly, stirring regularly. Add the chopped kale with a pinch of salt then cover and cook on a low heat (add a little water if it dries out too much). When the kale has softened and wilted, add the beetroot sticks and toasted nuts. Cook for five minutes then add your teaspoon of honey and dash of orange blossom water. Cook for another five minutes and let it all cool down for a bit before you fill up on some sweet joy.

2-way parsnip

The Christmas Cooking Frenzy has put me off the kitchen for the last few days, but today I feel like I'm back on board.
In our fridge there's an obscene amount of parsnips that needs addressing, due to a Christmas Shopping Frenzy miscommunication. Roasting them is not an option as I have absolutely done my dash with roasted parsnips (at least for the next few weeks anyway).
I have been loosely inspired by the format of the 2-way Peking Duck - where the skin and top layer of meat is served with the pancakes etc, then the rest of carcass taken back to the kitchen to make soup.
My 2-way parsnip consists of chips (like the Tyrrells ones) and a spicy soup.

What you need
10 Parsnips, peeled
sea salt
black pepper in a grinder
sunflower oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 small brown onion, diced
1 tablespoon marigold swiss vegetable organic bouillon powder
Pastry brush
fresh coriander



Parsnip chips
Preheat oven to 200c
Using a vegetable peeler, work your way around the fat end of the peeled parsnip taking off about 3-4 slivers at a time. Repeat with the other parsnips.Brush some sunflower oil then grind some black pepper onto a metal baking tray, evenly lay the strips down flat, lightly brush with some more oil and season again with a little bit more pepper and salt. Bake in the oven for around 8 minutes on the top shelf, give them a toss at around 5 minutes with a spatula and return to the oven. When golden remove from oven and cool on some paper towel.

Parsnip soup
Chop what's left of the parsnips into 2-3 cm chunks. Put a full kettle on the boil. Heat a few tablespoons of sunflower oil in a big saucepan over medium heat then fry the onion, curry powder and cumin - when the aroma begins come out of the spices throw in the parsnip chunks and fry for a few minutes, add enough boiling water from the kettle to cover the parsnips. Add stock powder and stir. Bring to boil, cover and turn flame to low. When the parsnips are soft, then blend in the food processor until smooth and serve with some chopped fresh coriander.



Now what I need is ideas on how to cook the 500 brussel sprouts sitting in the fridge.
Happy New Year!