Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Here is the thing to understand about flattening the curve.

"It only works if we take necessary measures before they seem necessary.

"And if it works, people will think we over-reacted.

"We have to be willing to look like we over-reacted."

-- Kaila Colbin (kcolbin), 2020-03-11 [despite places like NYC already experiencing such things as long queues to enter an emergency room, there seems to be a sense of "oh it's not here yet, I don't have to worry" in some places. So even though this quotation is two weeks old, I think it's still something some folks need to hear.]

Yesterday ...

• Preheat a shallow layer of olive oil in a pot, with curry powder and mustard seeds in it.
• Chop up a medium sized yellow onion and dump it into the oil when the mustard seeds begin popping.
• Peel a parsnip, then keep going with the peeler to produce a large pile of shavings, then chop up the shavings to make them shorter.
• Do the same thing to a carrot, but don't worry about the chopping step.
• Shake the pot every so often so that the onions cook more or less evenly and all the onion chunks get some time in the oil.
• Cut up a potato into smallish chunks.
• When the onions start getting translucent, add the potatoes and stir.
• Chop a beet into very small pieces.
• Add the parsnip, carrot, beet, and a crumbled cube of vegetable bouillon to the pot. Dump in a handful of oregano and a sprinkle of coriander, fill most of the way with water, and add slightly more salt than you think you'll need.
• Cut portabello or "baby bella" mushrooms into spoon-size chunks.
• Boil until the beet pieces start to soften a wee bit, then add the mushrooms.
• Boil and stir until the water level drops enough to add a can of corn (without draining it) and a handful of red lentils.
• Keep boiling and occasionally stirring, because the beet is going to take a little while. Meanwhile, try to get the rest of the beet juice off your hands.
• Top up the water a couple times along the way.
• Last stage: let as much water boil off as it takes to reach your preferred water:solids ratio for a stew while the beet finishes cooking, stirring a lot more often to prevent the bottom from burning.
• Remove from heat, stir extra well, and serve.

Later I'll find out how well the leftovers reheat.

You'll notice an absence of garlic. That was an accident -- I got distracted. Oops. But it worked really well despite that. The potato and beet flavours played off each other even better than I thought they would. The bits of onion that browned, plus the parsnip, added a surprising amount of sweetness. The potato chunks turned pink; the parnip and carrot pretty much dissolved. Tasty and filling. :-) And no, I didn't measure anything. I'm just glad I remembered all the steps a day later, because I never remember to take notes when improvising in the kitchen.

First time I've tried using fresh beet in a stew. Definitely won't be the last.

Does this dish need a name?