When you move into a new house, there are things that have to happen before that new house becomes your home. Everyone has their own definition of what makes a house a home. For me, there were two moments that really made our new house a home for me. There was the first time I walked barefoot over the hardwood floor. It 
felt natural and somehow, just right. Then, there was the first meal that I cooked in the house. I was nervous about cooking in the house. Why? Well, I’ll show you.
That’s our antique gas stove. It’s a Wedgewood, possibly somewhere around a 1940-1950′s model. We really have no idea. There’s no documentation on it and when we bought the house we weren’t even sure that the pilot light on the oven worked. So it was with some trepidation that I embarked on cooking our first meal.
As it turns out, all of my nerves were unfounded. The stove is quite easy to use, despite the need to light the burners manually.
I didn’t plan anything too involved for our first meal, but instead, decided to focus on a simple, local meal, components of which we’ve had numerous times.
Skagit River Ranch was a natural choice for meat for the meal. I’ve talked about Skagit a lot over the past couple of years. When we emptied the freezer at our apartment for transfer to the house, all of our frozen meat was from Skagit. George and Eiko are excellent stewards of the land, and they are great people to talk to. If you have any questions about their farm and their beliefs, just stop by and chat with them at the Ballard, University District, or West Seattle farmers markets.
For our side dish, I chose one of the standard winter vegetables in Puget Sound – parsnips. I’ve been cooking parsnips a bit lately, in part thanks to Roots and Grubs. I’ve been creaming them, which is a recipe very much like mashed potatoes, with a sweeter flavor.
As you can see, our new fridge is a bit colder than it should be. The parsnips we bought at the University District farmers market the day we moved in got a bit frosty. Oops. Time to fiddle with the temperature.
Cooking the Andouille was pretty straight forward. Normally we’d grill it, but it has been pretty cold up in Seattle for the past few weeks and the grill is still in the garage. So we pulled out the cast ir
on pan, cut the sausage in half length-wise, and just cooked it on medium-high heat until nice and browned.
Now onto the parsnips.
Creamed Parsnips, from Roots and Grubs
- 3 medium to large parsnips
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 Tbsp butter
- A splash or two of cream
- Salt and pepper, or Bacon Salt
Peel and slice the parsnips. You’re going to be boiling them, so the size doesn’t matter. You can also skip the traditional step of removing the woody core of the parsnip.
In a medium saucepan, add the parsnips, the broth, and enough water to cover the parsnips. Boil for between 10 and 15 minutes, or until the parsnips are fork tender. The length of time really depends on how think your parsnip chunks are.
With a slotted spoon, remove the parsnips from the pan and place them in a blender, food processor, or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Reserve the cooking liquid!
Start blending the parsnips, along with the butter and a splash or two of cream. Add the cooking liquid, a little at a time, until the parsnips have reached a consistency that you like. There’s no right or wrong amount of liquid to add. Our version was the consistency of thick porridge, but next time I’ll make it a bit thicker. Season with salt and pepper or bacon salt. You could also use cayenne pepper, or some Zane and Zack’s (either their honey chipotle sauce or some of their hickory smoked sea salt or dry rub).
That’s it. Plate and serve.
Our very first home cooked meal in the new house. Simple. Local. Tasty.
