Potato & Parsnips with Fresh Basil Pesto

One of the reasons the blog has been so silent is I've been doing research for a big post/series that I'll be sharing when I kick off my new website. It's one of those post that I thought would take a couple of weeks to do and instead has turned into several months. I can't wait for the post to be done, but I want to do it right. Curious about what the topic is? Well stay tuned... :)

In the mean time, since Artistta certainly can't stay quiet forever and I have so many recipes to share, it's time to get back to what I love to do and share what I'm learning and experimenting with in the kitchen. Over the last couple of months I been trying to learn about making more fermented foods, been experimenting with making cultured products, testing out different sourdough recipes and trying out new recipes. Last night we sat down to a fabulous meal of broiled salmon (picked up at Mill City Farmers Market Saturday morning), fresh greens and a mixture of potatoes and parsnips tossed in basil pesto.

Some of the potatoes we pull out of our CSA box.

If you follow Artistta on Facebook, you may have seen the post that I put up late last week mentioning that we received our first CSA box from Driftless Organics. Hurray! Now I have the fun of putting together dishes which incorporate whatever surprises us in our CSA box for the week.

This last week our box included asparagus, collard greens, green garlic, parsnips, pea vines, radishes, fresh thyme and Tsoi-sim. We've used just about everything up. With the asparagus I made an asparagus guacamole, which I added a couple of the green garlic to.  (This was incredible and might be a new house favorite. I'm going to make it again later this week to snap some photos and share the recipe with you all.) With the collards, I sliced them into strips and tossed them with some lard, bacon, cilantro and garlic, then added it all to a pot of pinto beans which I cooked it chicken broth. We topped the beans off with some homemade sour cream, the asparagus guacamole, cheese and salsa. All scooped up and eaten with fresh, homemade tortillas! Once again awesome flavor and an easy, satisfying meal.

Here's a quick run down of how we made our potato and parsnip dish last night.

Potatoes and Parsnips with Basil Pesto

What You'll Need

serves 4-6

1 tsp unrefined sea salt

5 small to medium organic potatoes

3 small to medium organic parsnips

3 tbsp organic butter

1/3 cup of fresh basil pesto (click HERE for my recipe)

Unrefined sea salt to taste

Fresh grated Parmesan cheese to garnish with

Getting Started

 1. Bring 2 quarts of filtered water and 1 tsp of salt to a boil in a 4 quart pot. While waiting for water to boil, wash and slice potatoes into ~1/3" chunks. (I like to leave the skin on my potatoes, since most of their nutrients is removed when you peel them.) Also, peel and slice the parsnips into similar size chunks.

2. Add the potatoes and parsnips to the boiling water and cook until fork tender but not falling a part, about 6-8 minutes. Drain from the water, then set aside. If you wanted you could easily do all of this the day before you make this dish or even earlier in the day and then set the potatoes and parsnips in the fridge until you are ready to use them.

3. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat then add potatoes and parsnips. Fry until everything is golden brown. Remove from heat and place potatoes and parsnips into a large bowl. Season with a bit of salt and toss with pesto. Garnish with the fresh grated Parmesan and enjoy!