Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Of Food...

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating."
―Luciano Pavarotti

I'd been thinking about doing a post on a couple of recipes I've tried out and loved lately, and when this quote came to me in an e-mail this morning, I thought today is the day!
Over the Christmas holidays, we had made these incredible pan-roasted root vegetables as a side dish to braised short ribs - delicious!

Here's the recipe from The Balthazar Cookbook:

1/4 cup olive oil (I used a little less)
3 garlic cloves, crushed, skins removed
1 celery root, peeled and diced small
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced small
4 parsnips, peeled and diced small
3 celery stalks, peeled and diced small, leaves retained and finely chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet of a medium flame. Add the crushed garlic cloves and saute for 2 minutes, until the cloves just start to take on color. Add the diced vegetables, including the celery leaves, and thyme and cook over high heat, stirring frequently with a spatula, for 5 minutes.

Lower the flame to medium and continue to cook, still stirring frequently, for another 10 minutes. Add a splash of water midway through the cooking time to provide steam. Just before the end of the cooking time, add butter. The vegetables should be tender and lightly caramelized. Season with the salt and pepper, and stir in parsley.

It is a lot of cutting of veggies, but so worth it. So good! And it can be modified to your heart's content. I had a half a rutabaga in the fridge, so I diced it and added it along with the other veggies.
Then yesterday I made a scrumptious Thai Tofu Vegetable Curry I found on a great blog that is all about daily vegetarian slow cooker recipes. Well worth checking out. You can find the curry recipe by clicking here. It was delicious, a little spicy and perfect comfort food for a cold day!
And last, but not least, a little hello from Winslow - obviously he thought that today was a good day to do some gardening...or maybe he wanted to try a new mud facial mask...

In the next couple of days, I may have another painting to show - this current one is proving a little challenging... I also recently received an award and have been remiss in posting about it. I have to state 10 facts about myself, so I'd better get thinking!

Oh, and thank you for all your great ideas for decorating! I will be looking for some branches to bring in, will do some rearranging of our other decorations and I'll go to a nursery to see about getting some bulbs to force indoors. That makes me think that I could be growing an indoor herb garden as well - I miss having fresh herbs from the garden...

Hope you are all doing great!! Off to visit your blogs now...

20 comments:

  1. That really looks delicious. I love vegetable stir fried. Maybe I'll try this recipe, thanks for sharing. Winslow looks like he did something wrong and is saying to you, "Uh, hmmm, okay you caught me." Family pet members (that's what I call them) are the best. They give you so much and ask for so little. Take care.

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  2. It looks like Winslow has been doing a little weeding.:) As I totally agree with Povarotti I will be happily dicing veggies in the near future and trying your vegetable side dish out, sounds yummy.

    One of these days I might have to try cooking with tofu. I have never once tried it but as we will be growing soybeans this season perhaps I can make some from scratch...or not, I really have no idea what is involved in that process.

    Tell Winslow hello for me!

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  3. Yum - looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
    have fun decorating too - can't wait to see.

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  4. The quote is perfect...the food looks DEELICIOUS...and Winslow is SO gorgeous!
    Thanks for always leaving such great comments...I will probably use the mileskines as idea books...I'm in love though!
    HUGS
    Char

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  5. i cannot even tell you how yummy this looks...my mouth is literally watering! i am day 2 in on a 6 day cleanse/detox! tough but i am determined to follow through and complete it!! my hubby and i are in it together...so have to stay the course!
    thank you for sharing the recipe! xxoo

    k
    www.heartwingsisters.blogspot.com

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  6. I love that sweet little face on Winslow. He is so gorgeous!

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  7. What is the difference between celery root and celery stalk? The dish sounds good and looks beautiful. you are always cooking up something. Thanks for the link to the slow cooker site.

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  8. Thanks for all your yummy comments!

    Just in case anyone else is wondering about the difference between a celery root (celeriac) and the regular celery, here's a site to read about the root: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeriac.

    Happy eating!! Love, Silke

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  9. Yum yum! I am hungry. So when are we going to start your birthday party since today is your birthday? HAPPY BIRTHDAY Silke!. My! A lot of birthdays in January. Tsup!

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  10. Thanks for sharing the yummy recipes!

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  11. Aww, but his face will be as soft as a baby's, and his pores will be so teeny! He's a metrosexual hound.

    I think the first post I read of yours was about food. And I remember thinking what a great cook you must be. Heavens to murgatroid, Silke, this looks so good, I think I must lick my screen!

    Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU! Hahahahaha! Cheers. ;)

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  12. Today is your birthday!? Happy Happy Birthday dear Silke!
    I hope you've had a wonderful day.

    Thank you for the recipe, it not only sounds delicious, it is so pretty. It's perfect for me because I love chopping veggies (i love to iron too, i'm strange i know) :)

    your puppy has such a sweet expression, is this his "am i in trouble?" look?

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  13. Such yummy recipes, I will have fun giving them a try. Hugs, Diane

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  14. Mmm it all sounds very yummy at your house - must pop around sometime. I'll have to try those recipes as I don't eat meat & they sound so perfect. Thank you for sharing dear Silke x

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  15. Hmmmm....someone has spread a birthday rumor about me!

    While I would love to have several birthdays a year, and while I am grateful for all the good wishes, this was actually my un-birthday as my "real" birthday isn't until August!

    Happy Birthday to all of you as well!! Especially Ces!! ;-) Love, Silke

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  16. Silke, how nice to have discovered you here in blogland...I am a US native living in Austria since about eight years, kann auch ein bisschen deautch sprechen! :)
    I saw you are also a fan of LandLust, it's one of my favorites. I also love Wohnen & Garten, do you know it?
    Your paintings are beautiful and wow, those pan-fried root vegetables look delicious. I will have to make it next Thursday when my Öko-Kiste arrives. :)
    Look forward to following more of your posts,
    Country Girl

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  17. Hi Silke! That recipe looks divine - thanks for posting it. I shall have to try it. Winslow looks adorable - and perhaps ready for mischief? I've seen that "look" on my pups plenty 'o times! LOL Can't wait to see your newest painting. Take care and we'll chat soon. Theresa :)

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  18. I think Pavarotti devoted too much time to food... but fortunately he stopped to sing :)

    lovely recipe
    thanks for sharing

    best wishes for a happy birthday
    Ribbon

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  19. Of course Silke since nothing will go down these days I'm starving and this food looks so good.

    xoxoxo

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  20. Looks yummy! I have Pavorotti on right now singing Nessun Dorma in this post's honor. :D

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