Roasted Parsnip and Celery Root Soup and a Special Giveaway!

Hurray we made it through the dreary month of February! Although here on the East Coast, it doesn't look like winter is going anywhere anytime soon. I'm a terrible Canadian. I love winter for oh, about the first 2 weeks, and then I just long for spring to come. Still, there are a few redeeming things about winter: the silence after a fresh snowfall, the wood stove crackling on a winter's eve, hot soups on the stovetop, and handmade woolies to keep us snug. Today, I have two of these wintery comforts to share with you. The first is a warm and wooly giveaway and the second is a recipe for a creamy roasted parsnip and celery root soup.

Let's start with the giveaway! I'm so excited to tell you that starting today, I will have a monthly giveaway sponsor which will be announced on the 1st of each month. And to start us off in pure elegance and style, Julie Sinden Handmade has generously offered a gorgeous 100% merino boiled wool hat to a lucky Kitchen Vignettes reader!

Julie is an award-winning textile artist based in Toronto. She is also a dear friend whose work I have admired ever since I met her. I have seen her whip up the most exquisite creations in the blink of an eye, from natural dyeing to felting to sewing and everything in between. Her beautiful hats are made using a boiled wool technique whereby you knit the item loose and large and then shrink it down to size. She describes it on her website as kind of like when you accidentally shrink your wool sweater in the wash, except that here, it's done on purpose.

Getting to wear one of Julie's elegant handmade hats is one of my favourite things about winter. In fact, my hat fits so cozily on my head that I often don't even take it off when I come in from outside. Actually, HA! I'm even wearing it as I write this and didn't realize it til now!

To be entered into the draw, it's very easy, you can choose one of 2 ways: 
1. Simply 'like' my brand new Kitchen Vignettes Facebook page as well as Julie Sinden Handmade's Facebook page and then leave me a comment below to let me know that you did.
2. Or instead, you can subscribe to this blog by e-mail (see the link to do so on the right sidebar).

The lucky winner will get to pick a hat of their choice (view the full winter 2013 collection by clicking here, there are both women and men's styles). Because we want to get your hat out to you before winter is over, I'll be drawing a winner in exactly 5 days so stay tuned! The giveaway is eligible to everyone, we will ship your hat wherever in the world you are.

Now let's talk soup! It's a snowy day here and I was browsing my newly received copy of The Farm, rustic recipes for a year of incredible food (by Ian Knauer) for warming recipes. This farm-to-table cookbook is packed with the most mouth-watering recipes including Sorrel-Buttermilk Panna Cotta, Shiitake-Stuffed Cornish Hens, and Swiss Chard & Fresh Ricotta Pizza. Mmmmmm.

Since we have a big bag of parsnips that need using up, I decided to make Ian's Parsnip and Celery Root Puree which I initially mistook for a soup recipe. Well, that was easily solved. I simply added some organic chicken broth to his recipe, put it through the blender and voila: a silky snow-white soup emerged, so simple to make, delightfully sweet and deeply flavourful, and perfect for this frosty day. I lapped it up like a kitty with a bowl of milk.

ROASTED PARSNIP AND CELERY ROOT SOUP
Adapted / Inspired from The Farm by Ian Knauer

Serves about 6 people

SOUP
1 medium-sized celery root (aka celeriac) equivalent to about 1 pound, cubed
2 medium-large parsnips equivalent to about 1 pound, cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup heavy cream (or milk)
Around 5 to 6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (more or less depending on how thick you like your soup)
Salt and pepper to taste

PARSLEY OIL (Optional garnish)
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup olive oil
1 chopped clove of garlic

Put your cubed veggies on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil. Bake in a 400 F oven for about 25 minutes, until golden. In a medium-large saucepan, mix the roasted veggies with your stock and simmer for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Pour into a blender or use a hand blender to puree until smooth. Returning the soup to the saucepan and add the cream (or milk). Heat until hot but don't allow to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste and a few drops of parsley oil to garnish if desired. To make the parsley oil simply put all the ingredients in the blender and puree. Strain through a cheesecloth or fine mesh.

For another inspiring recipe from The Farm, take a look at this video recipe for Ian Knauer's Potato Nachos, yum.

Kale, chorizo, and white bean stew

First of all, I'm pleased to announce the winner of the Italian cookbook giveaway is Valentinigirl, the gnocchi lover! Congratulations Valentinigirl :-)

Stay tuned everyone because I've got some VERY exciting giveaways coming your way very soon... In the meantime, thanks so much to everyone who entered and shared their favourite Italian foods with me, I had a great time reading all your comments! My own favourite Italian recipe is rabbit stew with marsala (coniglio al marsala), which was one of my most unforgettable meals in Tuscany. Basically, you put a whole skinned rabbit in a crock pot, pour an entire bottle of marsala over it, and let it soak for 24 hours. You then stew it up with bacon, tomatoes, celery, and herbs. I recreated the dish a few years ago for a New Year's dinner and it shot me through a portal right back to Tuscany, though my dinner guests were mildly freaked out by the whole rabbit and the fact you could see his dear little head (teeth and all) poking out from the stew. Oops. In my defense, I grew up in rural Quebec with a mom who, though she was a gentle soul, regularly trapped and skinned wild rabbits without batting an eyelash. So I sometimes forget that seeing an animal head staring back at you from the depths of a juicy stew may not be the most appetizing thing to many people.

So I have another kind of stew to share with you today. A much simpler one that takes mere moments to prepare and is hearty and warming for chilly days. 

This is one of my go-to recipes in the winter months. And since February is my least favourite month of the year, I always try to fill it with delicious comfort foods otherwise I tend to despair that spring will ever come. Especially this year, given my most unpleasant experience ever at US customs last week, one which threw a serious wrench in my winter plans and left me feeling like the wait for spring this year will be longer than ever before. Let's just say cross-border romance is not always an easy thing when grumpy customs officers are involved. Now onwards with comfort stew and the fact that March is just around the corner.

KALE, CHORIZO, AND WHITE BEAN STEW

3 or 4 chorizo sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch of kale, finely chopped (about 3 cups)
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cup water
1 to 2 cups cooked white beans
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt to taste

Chop chorizo sausages into bite-sized pieces and cook in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat for about 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Add the shredded kale and cook for about 2 minutes or until wilted. Add 2 cups of your favourite tomato sauce, 2 cups of water, your cooked white beans, and the smoked paprika. Salt to taste. Simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with grated parmesan and warm bread.

Buckwheat Shortbread Hearts Dipped in Chocolate and Sesame

I have to admit I am not much of a Valentine's Day person. But this year I'm just a little bit excited because I get to be reunited with my sweetheart who I haven't seen in 6 long never-ending weeks. Yesterday, he was on the road all day, making his way here, and I made these cookies while I waited for him.

Those of you who know me know that I'm more than a little obsessed with all things buckwheat. Buckwheat makes a dark blue-ish grey flour that has a sandy texture, and a distinct taste that I can only describe as well, buckwheat-ey. I suppose one could say it tastes nutty. I just think it tastes like the earth. And I love it. I grew up on buckwheat crepes and buckwheat groat (aka kasha) casseroles. Yup. Hippy parents.

Buckwheat is gluten-free which makes it an attractive grain these days, though it is technically not a grain but a seed. It is extremely nutritious and has numerous health properties, being lower on the glycemic scale than most grains, and high in important minerals and flavonoids that protect again cell damage and inflammation.

For a long time, crepes were the only thing I would make with buckwheat flour, which is on the heavy side and can behave in strange and mysterious ways. It is definitely a flour with limitations. For instance, I've found buckwheat bread to be nearly impossible to make (if you have a recipe, let me know)! Lately, I've tried making shortbread with buckwheat, experimenting with both sweet and savoury kinds. These cookies I'm sharing with you today are all the more buckwheat-ey because they are sweetened with buckwheat honey: a uniquely dark honey that has a robust flavour. It's fairly easy to find in most health food stores. Cut into hearts, dipped in dark bittersweet chocolate and sprinkled with sesame seeds, these shortbread make a deliciously healthy Valentine's treat. 

Happy love day everyone! 

SESAME CHOCOLATE BUCKWHEAT SHORTBREAD

3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (or gluten-free flour)
2 tbsp. buckwheat honey
1/2 cup butter, softened (I used salted)

4 oz. of dark, high quality chocolate
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients together until you have soft dough that you shape into a ball and flatten. Roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake in a 350 oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on a rack. Once fully cooled, dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate, sprinkle with sesame seeds and cool on a piece of parchment paper until the chocolate has hardened.