I love my family. I brag about them more than I brag about anything, and the funniest part of the bragging is that I had almost nothing to do with getting them as a family and really I don’t think I had too much to do with their awesomeness, but they’re mine so I think that I’m allowed to brag about their awesomeness. They are all really awesome and special. I would be lying if I said I couldn’t pick out which ones were my favorites (honesty bomb) but I do love them all. Some of them I see a lot (like my Teta and Uncle and Cousin for Sunday Family Dinners) and some of them I see less often (like my Uncle and Aunt and Cousins who live in Cali) but all of them rock the cas-bah (I’m not sure I know what that means). I had the fortune to have an accidental chat with my darling cousin MB and got totally psyched for August for our family reunion (yes people really do that every year). Then for some reason made the following meal to consume in the time I had between work and meeting up with my ex-work wife Bindy and her dear friend for vino and cheese!
Spicy Chicken, Parsnikps and Turnips A Naturale – from my brain
Ingredients:
- 1 parsnip – check
- 1 turnip – check
- 1 portion chicken – check
- ½ tsp hot sauce (Texas Pete if you know what’s good for you) – check
- Sprinkle Bread Crumbs – check
- Sprinkle Red Pepper Flakes – check
- Salt – check
- Pepper – check
- ½ tsp veg oil – check
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F. I don’t know why I find this to be my favorite oven temperature but it works. Peel the parsnip. I’m not entirely sure that’s how a parsnip is supposed to be cooked because I’ve never cooked with them before but I figured they look like a potato and British people put parsnips in mashed potatoes (a practice I’ve tried and decided it’s just downright Un-American) so they can probably be treated similar to a potato.
Step 2: Slice the parsnip into similar sizes. This is tricky with parsnips because they’re a tuber that gets fatter, or skinner depending on your perspective. So just try to make it work. Set aside.
Step 3: Cut the ends off the turnip, I’m not sure that’s how to treat turnips either but I didn’t really have time for youtube. Slice the turnip into roughly the same sizes. Taste a bit of the turnip and a bit of the parsnip so you’ll know what they might taste like. Turnips are a bit sweet and parsnips have a bit of a bite.
Step 4: Mix the parsnip and the turnip together, add the veg. oil and just a sprinkle of salt and pepper. This will hopefully make them yummy. Put them in a dish so that they’re all spread out. Sometimes, it may take you many tries to find the right size, but eventually you’ll get there. Pop them into the oven.
Step 5: Coat the chicken with the Texas Pete, then bread and red pepper flake and bake the chicken. Then put it in the oven. Let everything cook about 35-40minutes or until the veggies are soft-ish and the chicken is cooked. The “I just checked but it clearly needs a little more time to cook” is a perfect time to take a phone call from your best friend Heids to plan things about the weekend.
Catching a small phone chat with Heids is not only the perfect time user (it’s not a waste so I’m not going to use that term) to finish cooking, but also to allow your food to cool. Plus it’s a pleasure to get a minute to chat about weekend plans, even when your best friend tells you that you’re nuts to have too many things booked and that you might need to relax. Ok, relax.
I can’t rave about this meal enough. Wowza. The chicken was the PERFECT amount of spicy. The parsnips, well we’ll come to terms with them in a while, but the TURNIPS are like CANDY. The best part is that they’re candy that’s good for you. How did I never know that before? I’m honestly floored by this. I can’t wait to try it with a multitude of other things.
This foodsperiment gets +7 for taste, +5 for turnips, +5 for easy dishes, +5 for cousins, +5 for best friends, +5 for Chelsea Handler (who I watched on Rosie during dinner), and +5 for drinks later with my ex-work wife Bindy and Co! Happy Sperimenting!
Spicy Chicken, Parsnips and Turnips A Naturale!
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