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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Creamy, dreamy…

September 19, 2012 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

…parsnips!! Yes, parsnips! Who would have thunk it? This dish, in the newest October Food and Wine magazine, appealed to me. I had parsnips and I had chicken thighs. I always have white wine that can be used up. If not that, use dry vermouth and feel very French. And the rest of the recipe I just improvised and changed.

Yesterday, my day was challenging. Our refrigerator and freezer went kaput in the middle of the night and I had to work from home while waiting for the repair men to come. Meanwhile I had the bright idea to call the super and ask if there were any empty apartments that had a refrigerator and could I please store all my food there? Yes, there was one on the third floor. Bingo! So here I am, hauling bags of food down there and then I’m trying to work at our kitchen counter and our darn refrigerator keeps on beeping to tell me that the temperature is below where it should be. Duhhh!!! Do you know how annoying that is?

Meanwhile, I’m dealing with two very inexperienced clients and I am frustrated. After the repair guys finally fix the refrigerator, I had to go to the Bronx for a meeting with the new board president at the school I volunteer at and I am not in a pretty mood. I tell them what I really think about their name at this meeting and leave. I am nice about it but firm.

I get back home and decide I need to sweat all this meanness out so I go to the gym and ride a bike for over 5 miles and come back up to cook this dinner which was so delicious and creamy dreamy that I am now a nice person again.

You see how food has the ability to comfort and soothe, curing all that ails you? When you cook with love, you only magnify that tenet.

Parsnips are in season now. Buy only fresh young ones — no big fat woody ones allowed! This really is a must-make dish. We served a Vouvray and some steamed Jasmine rice with this and all was well and back to normal in our household!
Chicken thighs with parsnips, sage, and rice on a white plate.

CHENIN BLANC BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH PARSNIPS AND SAGE
– serves 4

2 tbs. unsalted butter
2 tbs.extra-virgin olive oil
8 medium chicken thighs, with bones and skin
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 large shallots, peeled and quartered
1 lb. parsnips, peeled and cut into 3″ lengths and then quartered or halved
1 large sage sprig with numerous leaves
1 cup Chenin Blanc or other dry white wine
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, preferably homemade
Chopped fresh sage leaves and chives for garnish

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large, deep ovenproof skillet, melt the butter in the oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dust lightly with the flour, tapping off the excess. Add the chicken to the skillet skin side down and cook over high heat, turning once, until browned, 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add the shallots, parsnips and sage sprig to the skillet and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine and boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Nestle the chicken skin side up in the skillet, tucking it between the parsnips. Transfer the skillet to the middle rack of the oven and braise the chicken uncovered for about 25 minutes, until cooked through.

Turn the broiler on. Broil the chicken for 3 minutes, until the skin is crisp. Return the skillet to high heat and boil until the sauce is thickened, 3 minutes. Discard the sage sprig, if you like. Transfer the chicken and vegetables to bowls, garnish with chopped sage leaves and chives and serve with steamed Jasmine rice.

chicken-with-parsnips-on-a-platter

Filed Under: Dinner, Poultry Tagged With: braising, Chenin Blanc, chicken thighs, chives, Food and Wine magazine, parsnips, sage, shallots, Vouvray, white wine

Pretty plates

November 8, 2011 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

Because I am inherently a designer and artist, plates should be pretty to be appetizing. Your sensibilities are immediately heightened, taste buds salivating, when presented with a great looking plate.

If you are a mother with young kids, feed them everything. Make it beautiful and I guarantee you, they will eat it. We never fed our kids processed food or took them to fast food restaurants. And they would beg us to go when they were little. After all, their friends went all the time, even for dinner. (Yuk!) So one time, Zach went to either Wendy’s or McDonald’s with a friend for lunch. He was 10 or 12. He later admitted to me he felt very sick and gross afterwards. His body was not used to such garbage.

Here’s a very pretty plate that is so colorful with the beets and carrot/parsnip puree. I threw on the fresh figs at the last minute, because I had them in the fridge, I thought they would look pretty, and they needed to be used up. I did not spend time arranging this plate. It would look even better if I did but this is what you can get, casually putting things together. The chicken is the roast chicken recipe from my last post and here’s the carrot and parsnip puree, one of my favorite vegetables that looks like it’s really very special and it’s really very easy, as long as you have a food processor.

Carrot and parsnips with beets and roasted chicken leg on a blue plate.

Carrot & parsnip puree with Indian spiced roasted beets and roasted chicken leg

CARROT & PARSNIP PUREE
Serves 4

3/4 pound parsnips, peeled and thickly sliced
3/4 pound carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
Coarse sea salt
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon (or fresh parsley if you don’t have tarragon)

In a saucepan, combine parsnips and carrots. Cover with 1/2 inch cold salted water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until soft. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Pulse in a food processor, pouring in 5 tablespoons olive oil and just enough cooking water to make a loose purée. You will not use all of the water. Taste to see if it needs any salt. Most likely it will not need any because you have cooked them in salted water and added some of that salted water back in. Use fresh ground pepper to taste. Stir in tarragon or parsley. Serve. These also reheat very nicely in the microwave. If you’ve made them before everything else is ready, fire some extra heat into them just before serving this very elegant, restaurant/professional-like side dish.

Filed Under: Dinner, Vegetables Tagged With: carrots, elegant side dishes, parsnips, tarragon

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

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