Parsnip and Potato Latkes

Makes about 16 latkes. These are for Greg as they are from his favorite site Epicurious and because he had latkes at his 21st party.





1 large baking potato (8 to 10 oz)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 medium parsnips (1 lb total), peeled and coarsely grated
1/4 cup all-purpose flour or corn flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Accompaniment: smoked salmon and/or sour cream
Special equipment: a thin (fine-weave) kitchen towel

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 140°c to keep the latkes warm.
2. Peel potato and coarsely grate into a bowl. Add lemon juice and toss to combine. 3. Place potato on towel, then gather up corners to form a sack and twist tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Stir potato together with parsnips, flour, eggs, chives, salt, and pepper until combined well.
4. Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick frying pan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Spoon tablespoons of the latke mixture into the frying pan, then flatten into rounds with a slotted spatula.
5. Form 3 more latkes in skillet, then cook until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side.
6. Transfer latkes with spatula to paper towels to drain. Keep warm on a rack set in a shallow baking

Mushroom & Spinage Soup

2 punnets brown mushrooms or any other kind.
dried porchini - optional
2 onions
1 clove garlic
1 large bunch baby spinage or a large pillow pack (for those of you lucky enough to live in the land of Woolies!)
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 litre beef stock or 1 beef stock cube
butter, salt and lots of black pepper
cream to serve (optional)

Finely chop onions and garlic and saute in butter until soft. Finely chop mushrooms and add to onions. Add thyme (you can tie this in a bunch with string so it is easier to fish out later), porchini and stock and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked and soft. (If you are using a stock cube, add to the mixture and add a kettle of boiling water to the mixture). Once the mushrooms have cooked, about 20 min, turn off the heat and remove the thyme sprigs with a fork. Add the washed baby spinage to the soup. The hot soup will blanch the spinage and it will not taste hard and irony from over cooking. Blend the soup with a hand blender until smooth, adding salt to taste and lots of fresh black pepper. Add a swirl of cream to serve. Good in winter, super quick to make and the porchini just makes the mushroom flavour more intense.

Thank you Aunty Peggy and Alex!

Serving suggestion:

Aunt Peggy’s Crunchies

350-400 g marg/butter
2 tsp bicarb
2 c sugar
1 tbs golden syrup

Boil together and stir with a wooden spoon. When dissolved take off heat.

1 c sunflower seeds
2 c coconut
2 c self raising flour (or 2 cups of g-free flour)
4 c oats (1/2 Tiger, ½ Jungle) (or 4 cups of buckwheat flakes or rice flakes for g-free crunchies)

Mix together and then add the sugar mixture to above. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
Add 2 tsp Vanilla essence and mix in. Raisins or currents can be added if desired.

Put into two baking tins, lined with baking paper, press down firmly and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake at 180C for +/- 30 minutes for chewy – longer for crispy, maybe at a lower temp. Cut into squares, while in the pan, lift out the grease proof paper and allow to cool, then eat with a cup of tea and store in an air tight container.