Anasazi beans, red Swiss chard
Not shown: one roughly diced medium onion, one smashed and diced garlic clove, peppercorns, bay leaves.
The beans soak up more than double their bulk of water readily within just a few hours. This suggests how fast they will cook. Much faster than ordinary beans. Everything cooked the same time, a little over an hour.
They tasted excellent somewhat sweet but weakly one dimensional. The broth too watery.
Additions to punch out the profile without going overboard: salt, a few pinches dry oregano, chile flakes, rice vinegar, additional grinds of pepper, and butter for additional body.
That did it, and Boy, did that do it. I could not keep off this stuff even after I was full. I refilled my bowl and went back and filled it a third time. There is hardly any left worth saving, but there is no way the remainder will waste. I can not wait to hit this again and I never do that, eat beyond being sated, much less beyond being full. I'm just not that kind of pig, but tonight with this stuff I am.
I am trying to convey as a meal it is quite good, and not just as a side.
Maybe I should cook the stems too.
Mashed parsnips and turkey dinner
The dinner includes homemade cranberry sauce but I forgot about that when photographing.
The dressing is good olive oil first then sprinkled with rice vinegar. It is very light.
Gravy is au jus from baking the turkey. It contains buttermilk and pan drippings and water. Plus salt and pepper from the surface of the turkey. It is quite delicious, a marked improvement over thickened gravy.
Parsnips prepared the same as mashed potatoes with butter and cream. Reaching for the salt I noticed powdered mustard and went for that too.
Parsnips are very easy to peel and they float as they cook in water, so, lighter than other hard vegetables. They also seem more watery than potatoes. These were dehydrated in the same pot over heat as potatoes are dried out before adding butter and cream. They can combine with potatoes or carrots or squash for variety. They can be sweetened with brown sugar or maple syrup and such or go the other way and enhanced with savory elements, garlic, onion, and spices. They are more fibrous than all of the rest. I recommend them for a nice change of pace.
Cranberry sauce
Grated orange or lemon, I used juice also. Ginger is my own superfluous addition.
12 oz package of cranberries. Shown is 1/2 cup reserved to the end.
Most of the bag of cranberries
Grated orange or lemon peel. I used grated ginger as addition.
One cup granulated sugar
A few tablespoons of water. I used the juice from the orange
Pepper
Salt
Boil on low for a few minutes until sugar is dissolved then medium until cranberries pop.
The cranberries own pectin thickens as sauce.
Reserved cranberries mixed in.
Taste-test. Adjust with sugar, pepper or salt.
I considered chile flakes.
I considered raisins or currants.
I considered butter.
I considered cinnamon.
But I rejected all that because a voice hear at my right shoulder said directly into my ear, "Dummkopf! To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet, to smooth the ice, or add another hue unto the rainbow, or with taper-light to seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, is wasteful and ridiculous excess." And I'm all, "You talk funny. Get off my back."
Whole roasted turkey
Soaked overnight in diluted buttermilk.
Dinner napkin to wick the buttermilk up to the top surface (bottom of turkey) that is not actually soaking. The napkin was saturated first.
Rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper. No spices, no stuffing, resting on diced potato.
Bottom up so internal juices soak through breast. Halfway baked.
Breast side up to finish.
Rested, the moisture reabsorbed into the meat.
Mum, I love you. But you never did manage roasted turkey this moist and this flavorful this simply. Although I admit yours were more beautiful by laborious careful basting.
Pizza, ham, aged dough
Tomato paste from a tube
Anchovy paste from a tube
*Whispers* It wasn't very good.
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