Green Onion Soup (with a vegetarian option)

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Tiffany and Phyllis for winning yesterday's contests. Tiffany gave me an interesting suggestion to try some green onion salsa, and Phyllis' name was drawn out of a hat from all of the comments on my Saturday post. They've both been presented with boxes of produce and I'm sure that they'll enjoy them.

In the next few days I'll be shifting gears a bit and posting more than just recipes, but for now, I wanted to share one of the meals I made over the weekend. After the contests on Saturday I still had a ton more green onions of my own, and while pondering the various options I had for preparing them, my mind kept going back to French Onion Soup. But that would be too heavy for such a nice spring weekend, so I started with slow-cooked onions as my base and went from there. I made a version with chicken pieces and broth on Saturday evening, only to hear multiple requests from friends to create a vegetarian version.

Green Onion Soup

1 stick butter

1 bundle (3-4 large, 5-6 medium) green onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 medium potatoes, quartered and sliced

6-7 soup ladles of vegetable or chicken broth, about 1.5 quarts

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. When onions begin to brown slightly, add garlic, stir, and cook another 5 minutes. Add the potatoes to the mixture and stir to coat. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes and then add broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

This recipe will make about 3 meal-sized bowls of soup and 4-5 appetizer-sized cups.

A Rainy Saturday Giveaway

As the incoming storms have cancelled the festival we'd planned to attend today, I have two Grow Alabama produce boxes to give away. I'm running today's contest for the first box over Twitter, soliciting some green onion recipes between now and noon. The contest for the second box will be here, on this blog. The deadline is 5PM today.

This is a very simple contest. All you have to do is post a comment giving a suggestion as to what you'd like to see in this blog. The winner will be chosen at random, but keep in mind that you MUST leave an email address or some way for me to contact you.

Sorry, but for now the contest is only open to Birmingham area residents as I can't ship these boxes out. I want the winner to receive their box fresh!

EDIT: Although I mention it in my next post, Phyllis did indeed win the contest, and has hopefully enjoyed her box of vegetables thoroughly. -VE

Parsnip Puree - Sweet Mashed Potatoes?

Parsnips have been a pretty standard item in Grow Alabama's boxes for the past few months, and lately I've been experimenting with them. I only had my first parsnip last year, when I ventured out to Whole Foods to find some that my father and I could cook with a corned beef brisket. Since I have a tiny little crush on Gordon Ramsay, I kept thinking of how he's served parsnip puree instead of mashed potatoes on a few occasions on Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen.

Parsnips are nowhere near as starchy as potatoes, but when they've been cooked, the puree does have the same look and feel. The flavor, however, is divine.

On Wednesday, I cored some parsnips (the centers are much more stiff and have a stringy texture, so I removed them). I tossed them in some melted butter and olive oil, and baked them at 350 for about 45 minutes. In retrospect, it would've been better if I'd roasted them at 300 for a full hour, and I intend to do that next time.

After roasting them, I put them into my food processor with a coffee cup's worth of water, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and pureed them. I then transferred them into a small baking dish and topped it off with a sprinkle of brown sugar, and warmed it in the oven for a bit longer since I found the texture was still slightly grainy.

The results? Very tasty. However, in the future I will probably put them into a pot and puree them with cream instead of water, or I might even cook them down on the stovetop instead of roasting. Either way, parsnip puree has definitely found its way into my springtime repertoire.

Welcome!

As the newly minted (and founding) Executive Director of the Grow Alabama Foundation, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to start up this blog. I look forward to sharing not only news about our non-profit organization and the educational programs and events that will be occurring throughout the year, but also my own recipes and experiences with local food.

I first became involved with Grow Alabama through a friend who rarely cooks. Since I'm the type of person who will joyfully spend hours on end in the kitchen preparing a single meal, one day she brought me a giant box full of fresh vegetables. Everything looked amazing - carrots, parsnips, spinach, mushrooms, broccoli - and I was in love.

As a graduate student in the field of public administration, I've long focused my research and applied efforts on topics like community leadership and rural economic development. I've always been a tremendous supporter of local business as well. Combine this with my complete love of food, becoming involved with Grow Alabama in a non-profit role was a natural next step.

In the coming weeks and months, I'll be sharing a lot of things: our plans for the Grow Alabama Foundation's educational and farmer assistance programs, our efforts to connect local businesses to work toward a healthier Alabama, and perhaps more importantly, why supporting local farmers helps our local and regional economy, the environment, and your health.

Oh yeah, and there will be plenty of recipes, too.