Mashed potatoes and parsnips with horseradish

We had a beef roast for dinner last night. I had obtained a nice London Broil (top round) from my friend Roger, and as we usually do with beef roasts, I seasoned it with a rub of salt, pepper and herbs and parked it in the fridge overnight, to be roasted in our Ronco rotisserie.

For herbage I keep it pretty simple; rosemary and generic "Italian seasoning" which is usually some combination of marjoram, basil, thyme and oregano.

Someday I'm going to have my very own rosemary plant, but for now I used the dried.

I had picked up some parsnips at the farmer's market with the thought of using them in mashed potatoes, and this seemed like the perfect time - but then inspiration hit. I love, love, love horseradish; especially with rare roast beef. I had purchased a bottle of Harris Teeter branded prepared horseradish a few weeks ago that was particularly wimpy, and I was looking to get rid of it - so I told Jen to use it in the parsnip/potatoes. The combination was really excellent; this is my new favorite side dish for roast beef.

The farmer's market had no leeks this week.

They are supposed to be in season, but I checked every vendor at the farmer's market; no leeks to be found. Some of them hadn't even heard of leeks. And without leeks, I couldn't make potato leak soup, so I ended up in Whole Foods.

I wonder if they just don't grow here?

I used this video as a guide. There were many on YouTube, but this one seemed closest to my style. I used 3 russet potatoes, whereas there are only 2 in the clip. I ended up adding salt at the end, and my broth wasn't even a low-sodium variety. I forgot how much salt potatoes need.

Anyway, it was excellent.

Tomorrow - mashed potatoes and parsnips with horseradish; I can't wait.