This week your basket contains: Cabbage, PARSNIPS, potatoes, red onions, celeriac, and salad mix (lettuce, spinach, radicchio, and Chinese cabbage).

The recipe below is from the Moosewood Cookbook.  It is one of our favorite ways to use cabbage and potatoes together.  You can also use this recipe for a stovetop, one-pan version by simply topping the cabbage mix with the potatoes right in the pan you sautéed it in.

SOLYANKA

4 medium potatoes

4 cups shredded cabbage

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

3 Tbs butter

1/2 tsp caraway seed

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dill weed

black pepper

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

paprika

1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup yogurt

2 Tbs cider vinegar

Scrub (don’t peel) the potatoes, cut into small pieces and boil until mashable.  Drain and mash, while still hot, with cottage cheese, sour cream and yogurt.  Sauté onions in butter with 1/2-tsp salt.  After five minutes add caraway, cabbage and remaining salt.  Sauté until cabbage is tender.  Combine with potato mixture, and add everything except 2 Tbsp. sunflower seeds and paprika.  Spread into a deep buttered casserole.  Top with paprika and remaining sunflower seeds.  Bake at 350 degrees uncovered 35-40 minutes.

Parsnips, a wonderful root vegetable, are used in many of the same ways as carrots. Roasting them brings out their sweet, earthy flavor. We chop them into slices and put them around a roasting chicken with small potatoes, carrots and onions.  Baste them as you would the chicken. They can also be boiled and mashed with potatoes.

LAMB CHOPS WITH PARSNIPS

2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 medium parsnips (about 1 pound), peeled and sliced 1/3 inch thick

3/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate (6 ounces), thawed

Zest and juice from 1 lemon

2 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish

Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 lamb loin chops, 1 inch thick (2 1/2 pounds)

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until shimmering. Add the parsnips and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden and tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer the parsnips to a plate.  Add the apple concentrate to the skillet and boil until syrupy and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 8 minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice, the parsnips and 1 tablespoon of the horseradish. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.  Meanwhile, in another large skillet, heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil until shimmering. Season the lamb chops with salt and pepper, add them to the pan and cook over high heat, turning once, until the meat is cooked but still pink throughout, about 7 minutes.  Transfer the lamb and parsnips to plates. Spoon the sauce over the lamb, top the chops with the remaining 1 tablespoon of horseradish and serve.

Every year we try to guess the best time to stop transplanting lettuce outside and start putting it in a hoop house.  Stop too early and the hoop house lettuce goes to seed; too late and the cold and rain destroy the outside lettuce before it matures. This year we did pretty well, but now is the time to use it as we are at the point of “use it or lose it”.  Being a hardier, winter mix, this week’s greens call for a stronger dressing.  This is one of our favorites.

BUTTERMILK DRESSED GREENS

1 cup mayonnaise

2/3 cup buttermilk

½ cup Parmesan or Asiago cheese

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

12 cups mixed salad greens

1 tart apple thinly sliced

¼ cup toasted pine nuts (optional)

¼ cup crumbled bacon (optional)

In a bowl, vigorously whisk together mayonnaise and buttermilk.  Add the cheese, garlic, vinegar, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper and mix well.  Transfer to a covered container and store in the refrigerator until needed.  It will keep up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.  When ready to serve, arrange the salad greens on plates, top with pine nuts and bacon (if desired) and spoon on a dollop of dressing.  From Glorious Greenery.