Carrots and Parsnips Exupery

Recipe adapted from Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen

I’ve spent the winter in a Monastery. Well, cuisine-wise anyway. In search of inspiration during a seasonal chef’s most challenging months, I discovered Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen: A Complete Menu Cookbook for All Occasions. Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Loutourette, whose origins are obscure and whose abode is in upstate New York, has written many monastic cookbooks. My blog features only one parsnip recipe: delicious, nostalgic oven braised parsnips and carrots. So it's Brother Victor-Antoine to the rescue with parsnips in a sweet, buttery glaze spiked with dry mustard.

Oven Braised Parsnips and Carrots

Braised and Garnished Parnsips and Carrots

Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking

“I love your cooking, Robin,” said my friend Joy at dinner a week before Christmas last year. She was specifically talking about this dish, which Bruce and I served with roast turkey, coleslaw, and cranberry sauce. “You know how to make healthy things taste good.”  Sadly, this was the last meal we shared. A chronic illness put her into sudden decline the next week, and she passed away shortly afterwards. I will always cherish my memory of our last dinner, and how we attended the Christmas carol singalong with Boomeria’s 2500-pipe organ afterwards. Let’s join in celebration with our friends, while we have the opportunity.