Parsnips are an ivory-cream root vegetable that tastes slightly astringent with a gentle earthy sweetness.
Parsnips taste sweeter as the soil temperature drops—the starch in them turns to sugar—so they’ll be at their best just after a cold snap. These tender morsels are lovely as a garnish in a hot soup like this one, steamed, mashed to a puree, roasted in ghee, served like this with mayonnaise, or tossed in a winter salad.
~ this morning, glorious colours of Autumn, lighting up the mistiest of mornings…
tip
When buying organic, I usually leave the peel on my root vegetables, but with parsnips, the skin tends to toughen when cooked, so it is best to peel.
sweet parsnip fries
serves 4, as a side dish
ingredients
7 medium/480g parsnips
2 Tbsp ghee/oil
rock salt
freshly ground pepper
preparation
- Preheat oven to 210C/410F.
- Rinse the parsnips, scrub well under running water, and peel the skin off them; cut them into fry shapes about 1 cm thick with a sharp knife.
- Place them in a bowl of water, move them around a few times, allow them to soak for 10 minutes, and then drain. This step helps to remove some of the starch and improve the crispness.
- Placing the parsnip sticks on a dry towel and allowing them to air dry for 15 minutes is very important.
- Once dry, place in a large bowl, drizzle with melted ghee or oil and toss well with your hands until it is well coated in oil.
- Place the parsnip fries on a lined baking sheet (you may need to use two), arrange them so they are not overlapping, and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until golden brown. There is no need to flip them halfway during cooking. Serve immediately.
Goodness shared from Stacey
