Parsnips and carrots deserves to be among my "converter recipe". Friends who eat it leave liking parsnips. I can't count these friends as a true converts, however, because so few of them had previously eaten parsnips to think they disliked them. Among my friends, as I imagine is true among most Americans, parsnips are either a nonentity or mistakenly lumped in with turnips.
The Mister had no idea if he liked parsnips when I first met him. I served him parsnips and carrots one winter night early in our relationship and he ate three large helpings, ruining my leftover stash for the week but endearing him to me forever.*
Parsnip and Carrots
parsnips
carrots
olive oil
butter
Julienne equal quantities of parsnips and carrots. The Mister bought me a special attachment for our food processor just for this, but grating does work, as does hand chopping. Toss the carrots and parsnips into a saute pan, with a little olive oil if it is not non-stick. Cover and cook for a while, adding a little (1/4 cup or less) juice or port if you want a little added flavor, water otherwise. When your other food items are nearing ready, take the lid off add some butter and brown the vegetables a bit.
While this recipe is very very tasty if you are constantly adding butter (making, in essence buttery parsnip and carrot hash browns). The vegetables can do most of their cooking by steaming and only need a small quantity of butter at the end for a few nice browned bits. The dish is, in fact, still quite tasty without any butter.
*Among many many other things.
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5 comments:
yeah, i don´t know what a parsnip is really. i suppose i have never eaten one. i imagine a parsnip looks very much like a queen anne´s lace type weed though. or maybe those are the false queen anne´s lace...or what is that they are called...mock? my english is gone!
SpSq,
Every time I see a parsnip in the grocery store I think of my memory of this tasty dish (at least, I think it is the same one you made for me and T at one point). I am overjoyed that you are sharing it, and that I may now attempt it in my kitchen, which is sadly too far from yours.
Thanks!
Seriously. I'm going to the store after work and buying those parsnips.
Go Jenny! This is, indeed, the dish I served you and T (it is the only dish I make regularly with parsnips. They are very good roasted until they get crispy-- but that involves basting them with grease over and over-- just sticking them in the oven doesn't do much for them. They don't taste particularly good raw and while I have had excellent parsnip soups, I have also ruined vegetable soup by throwing one in.) Parsnips and carrots is a total keeper recipe because it is really super-easy and brings out the unusual and good flavor of the parsnip.
J- Parsnips and carrots are both cultivated varieties of Queen Anne's Lace, so both look just like it in their second year (but you eat them in the first year before they flower). I hope to try and post a bit on parsnip basics, but I may not get around to it.
Some believe that parsnips are the work of the devil..here is proof, go to
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article6175.ece
In the UK, we call parsnips rutabagas, swedes are norwegians, mangelwurzels are turnips.
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