Rustic Cream of Parsnip Soup

This was just added to my pantheon of great soups.  Parsnips are one of my favorite side dish vegetables, more interesting than potatoes.  Uncle Steven came to expect them at our house.  They are good roasted, a nice addition, chopped, to motzah ball soup, and good mashed, too.

This soup is creamy without using half-and-half like most recipes do. One important thing is having a good sudoku knife - without that leverage it is really hard to slice and chop parsnips.  This recipe makes about 8 servings.

1 T olive oil (or butter)
one medium onion
2-3 stalks celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3-4 medium sized parsnips 
2 carrots, optional (they make it a more appealing color)
4 c. broth (vegetarian powdered is fine)
bay leaf
salt, pepper
dash of nutmeg
other optional herbs - parsley or dill for garnish

• Heat oil (or butter) in a deep pot with a lid.  
• Peel and chop the onion and add it with the garlic and saute at medium.  
• Chop the celery [or leeks] and add.  
• Peel the parsnips and dice, cutting the long way and then crosswise.  Add to the sauteing vegetables.  
• Add chopped carrots, if you like.
• Pour in 4 cups of broth, salt, pepper, the bay leaf, and a pinch of nutmeg. 
• Simmer for about 20 minutes, covered, until the vegetables are soft.  
• Using an immersion blender, process until smooth.  It's fine if some of the vegetables are still a little chunky, which gives a nice texture.

It's a fairly bland color (a good reason to add carrots), so chopped parsley helps! This gives a lot of flavor and depth for a vegan dish.

Daniel Rosen's Green Shakshouka Via Jo

We have an abundant kale crop over at the Sterns - I planted a row of kale for George when he was post-knee surgery, and now - 4 months later - these monster kale plants are super prolific.  Really, I can go pick a whole basket full and you can hardly tell any is missing.
Jo made this with me when she visited for my birthday and I made it again a few days later - very easy.  You could make it more complicated with hot pepper, tomato sauces, et al, but this worked really well.

onion, sliced
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
lots of  fresh kale
2 to 3 tomatoes, chopped
4 to 6 eggs
pepper, salt
optional: feta cheese to sprinkle on top when you add the eggs

Chop an onion and saute it, with minced garlic, in olive oil in a large deep fry pan over medium heat.  Make sure it has a cover, which you will need.

While the onion and garlic and cooking, chop up a lot of kale.  (Spinach would work, too.)  Add it to the pan, and let it cook down.  If you have fresh tomatoes, chop and add them, as well.  Season with salt and pepper.  After about 5 to 10 minutes, they will have cooked down to a dense consistency. Crack 4 to 6 eggs, one at a time , and drop each on top of the mixture.  Cover and poach the eggs. [a sprinkle of feta cheese would be good at this point.]  This takes just a few minutes, and you can turn the heat off for most of it.

It is a great brunch dish, and or lovely for a light dinner.  We used eggs from the Rosens' coop, quite a treat.