mashed potatoes

While there's nothing wrong with a great classic mashed potato recipe (like, say, ours), I love the way parsnips blend right in alongside, taking nothing away and adding its own sweet, slightly tangy, delicate flavor. Best of all, you can cook the parsnips and the garlic right along in the pot with the potatoes.

There's one dish I can't force myself to eat in the hot weather, but the second it starts hammering giant wet snowflakes blown sideways by a "refreshingly" frigid damp wind, it's time to break out my variations on bangers and mash. I love our classic recipe with crispy pork sausages and caramelized onion gravy, but as can be expected, I get bored with it pretty quickly and move on. Here's how I do it.

Treat this formula as a blank canvas. Everyone has their favorite meatloaf add-in — some can't do without chopped carrots, others require parsley or other such vegetation. We recommend mixing in a caramelized onion or two before baking, because nothing loves ground beef like sweet, sticky onions.