Wild rice and parsnip fritters with mushrooms in cider and thyme, and leek-smoked cheese mash

A couple of years ago, I went to San Francisco to check out the cutting edge of modern cooking in one of the most idyllic vegetable-producing areas of the world. We had a sublime meal of simple perfection at Chez Panisse, one other nice dinner and an awful lot of overpriced fusion codology. Easily the most inspiring people were the growers; the cooks were too busy growing ponytails. On the last day, while prowling in Macey’s department store for a present for my mother, I s