Radish Salad and Parsnip Puree

I bought, used, and ate more radishes in the past few weeks than ever in my life combined! I"ve loved adding this inexpensive little veggie into my food experience.

More than simply slicing them and tossing them into salads, or dipping them into dressings. I was surprised to find out that you can cook them (with their greens) quickly, as a side dish, or tossed with pastas. I combined them with some brown rice and crumbled bleu cheese for a more substantial meal, but here's a tasty, and pretty, salad made with daikon and watermelon radish. I would add shrimp or thinly sliced pork tenderloin for a maindish meal.

Daikon and Watermelon Radish Salad w/Asian Dressing

shredded daikon and watermelon radishes (or any other type)
jalapeno (small dice), optional
golden raisins OR
fresh pineapple
cooked shrimp or pork

Asian dressing

1/4 c. lime juice
2 tbl. sugar
2 tbl. fish sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
Thai chili pepper (s), finely diced

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I finally got around to using up the parsnips that came in my CSA box last week. I like parsnips, but I don't usually buy much, because they are a little startchy, like potatoes, and cause me to hold water.

I could have just peeled cut and roasted them, but, roasting is a dry heat cooking method, that further decreases the water content, so I decided to boil them and mash, just as you would potatoes. But isn't "puree" fancier sounding than "mash"? lol I also decided to throw some turnips into the puree, because I knew I was going to serve this with some veggie and turnip green soup. (photo)


Parsnip and Turnip Puree

Peeled and dice about 1 lb of parsnips, I also threw in 4 small turnips cut the same size, add them to boiling salted water and cook until soft, about 10-15 min. Drain, reserving some boiling liquid (to thin if neccessary). Add butter and cream to taste.

This was my experience....

Since cooking them in salted water, I found that they did not need additional salt, and....

I only neede 1 tbl. of butter and 1 tbl. of cream.

I did not peel the turnips, so the peels, and the fibers from the parsnips, needed to be passed through a food mill. I don't like using my food mill, because I know most people don't own one, and because I like to encourage more home cooking, I think the simpler the better. I don't know if the parsnips are more fiberous this time of year, or if they're that way all the time, but definitely peel the turnips!

Mark really liked them...I'll do them this way again!