grown up vegetables

The Chins found out tonight that they will be in Alaska in three months.  Maybe I should stop spending time with people.  They just leave when I do. Seriously, if I can't check out in August for DC I'm going to be going crazy in this place.  That means since we've moved to the neighborhood our "close friend" number will have fallen from five families on this street to one in the matter of three months.  That blows (and also doesn't include the numerous other individuals/families who become our England family who are leaving in the next 6 weeks).  I'm super excited for Chins but won't lie in that I really hope I don't have to be here for another goodbye.  I hate being left behind.  I was hoping that maybe it would be "good news assignment night" on the street - no such luck.  Nadda for the Leres.

Tonight I had an accomplishment in the kitchen:  I succeeded at making vegetarian meat taste DELISH.  While I'm not a fan of British food as a whole, I have to say that I have gotten much better and have come to appreciate a FEW things that I can only get here / learned to eat in England.  I'm still probably the pickiest eater you will meet EVER, but I've branched out even in the last few days. I love food and have no problems eating but I'm very picky about what I actually like.

1.  I had a very traditional UK roast @ the Walkers the other night (and "roast" doesn't actually refer to the meat as a "Sunday roast" has more to do with the fact that the veg and meat are roasted [for instance a typical Sunday roast may be chicken w/ roast potatoes & veg]).  It happened that Suzie had made a beef roast w/ roasted vegetables.  The veg medley included  parsnips.  I had never had parsnips.  They were AMAZING!  Tasted like sweet potato (which I tried for the first time in my life in the UK - not my favorite but hey, I made a valiant attempt at cooking and eating baked sweet potato fries).  Parsnips are definitely going to be worked into the Lere menu rotation. Needless to say, Philip was not impressed when I announced this to him tonight.

parsnips look like whiteish carrots

2. Cottage pie. This is what I used the vegetarian mince to make. I'm not a vegetarian. There a few people who like their meat or need as much protein in their diet as I do However, there are a lot of vegetarian foods/dishes I really like. As people don't eat NEAR as much meat in Europe, I've been introduced to a lot of vegetarian dishes (as you can imagine, in an ED clinic there is a lot of vegetarianism - so I'm exposed to a lot of really good tasting veg. food at work). Beans, chickpeas and lentils are definite meal staples in Europe MUCH more so that they are in the US. Side note: I do still have to bring my own sandwhiches to work that have about half of an entire package of deli meat on them compared to the staff sandwhiches made for us at work which have 2-3 pieces of thin-sliced meat on them. I mean, that simply will not do. I've learned that the concept of a "sandwhich" is different in America than it is in the rest of the world.

<--------- cottage pie

<----- my father would sooooo not approve. I remember when I would tease my parents "what would you do if I became a vegetarian?" when I was a teenager because I knew the very notion would drive them mad- they were not humored when I would emply such antics and informed me that I would NOT be a vegetarian under their roof.

It is a popular thing in Britain to make a "pie" that has some kind of meat/gravy bottom (or fish and white sauce) and then is topped with mashed potato and baked.  While I still am not keen on potato in any form other than baked (and even then I enjoy the skin much more than the actually mushy potato part), I have become partial to the cottage pie base that is used for a recipe at the clinic. I much prefer the vegetarian mince in the recipe to actual beef for some reason - the taste and the texture of the veggie option for this recipe is just a lot nicer than the actual meat.  I've attempted to make the base of the pie to serve a few times at home but the "meat" has tasted horrible.   I've been repulsed and asked myself, "how does that woman make this stuff taste SO good - it's nasty?!?!?"   Instead of throwing away the last portion I had in the freezer I consulted the clinic chef about my inability to work her magic and she explained that I needed to cook the mince with vegetable stock.  It did the trick.  It was delish! So I had cottage pie sans the "pie" w/ baked potato instead.  Very good.

fish pie, still a "no" in my book.

Sorry England.

3.  Zucchini. (or "corgette" as we call it in England)  I love vegetables.  Love them.  (aside from corn , squash and potatoes. yucky.).  Zucchini, however, has always been one of the very few vegetables I'm not fond of.  Well, guess what? I put corgette in the cottage pie recipe along with the mince and some carrots and it was wonderful.  I must be really growing up or something.

Parsnips AND zucchini?  I would say this has been a very bold and daring week for the palate of Joy Lere.