More Winter Recipes

Here are a few more ways to fix the winter vegetables.

Napa--wonderful stuff
It keeps nearly forever. Our CSA, Cresset Farm, grows wonderful Napa, and we get to enjoy it all winter long.

Winter Napa Slaw
1/2 pound Napa cabbage, sliced fine
half a small head red cabbage, sliced fine
1/4 cup carrot, halved and sliced fine
1/4 cup lactofermented (pickled) vegetables (if you have them)
1/4 cup buttermilk, kefir or yogurt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
salt and pepper to taste

Sliced up vegetables and mix. Mix remaining ingredients and stir in. The red cabbage adds a welcome crunch to the slaw. If you keep it for several days, the dressing will turn slightly pink from the cabbage. I used Ursula's summer medley pickles; you could also use her turnip pickle, kim chee (sliced fine), or cucumber pickle (sliced fine). If you don't have any suitable pickles, you can omit them and the slaw is still very good.

Chinese Napa and mushrooms

1 pound chopped Napa cabbage
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 tablespoons dried shrimp
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, or you could use fresh shiitakes
chicken stock or water
4 ounces rice noodles
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

Place dried shrimp in small bowl; place dried shiitakes in another small bowl; pour boiling water over each, let stand 20 minutes. Then slice shiitakes, discarding stem. Drain shrimp, saute in oil a few minutes, then add cabbage, mushrooms and the soaking liquid, and stock to just cover. Simmer 15-30 minutes, until cabbage is tender. Meanwhile, bring a quart of water to boil, add rice noodles, and let stand with heat off, until tender. Then drain the noodles and mix with the vegetables, seasoning as desired with soy sauce or tamari. This dish is also good with some cubes of tofu added during the braising period.

Parsnip-Mushroom Soup
Parsnip makes such wonderful pureed soups. Here is another one.

1 pound parsnip, peeled and cut in chunks
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms (Hazel Dell portobellos are nice)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups chicken or beef stock, or water
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup milk
pinch or more of spices: I used ground cloves, nutmeg, and cardamon

Cut two mushrooms into very thin slices, for garnish. Cut the rest into thick slices.

Saute the parsnip and thick-sliced mushrooms slowly in the oil for 10 minutes or more, stirring frequently. You want the parsnip to start to brown a little on all sides. Then add the stock, and simmer covered for 10-15 minutes, until parsnips are soft. Cool a few minutes, then puree in blender. Return to pan, add milk, add salt and pepper to your taste, then add some spices (doesn't take much, probably less than 1/4 teaspoon, to your taste). If it's too thick, stir in a little water. Float a few mushroom slices in each bowl.