I was just reading an article on the DG weekly Newsletter regarding Parsnips, and how the poor lady had to suffer boiled ones.
So I put this on it, but thought I may as well, put it on the Recipe Forum as well.
This highly underrated root vegetable is so delicious when roasted properly, I cannot understand why people would give it a miss, but they sadly do.
Not only is it good for you, its sweet wonderful taste, cheapness and ease of cooking should rate it more highly!
For a Sunday Roast beef dinner is a match of exquisite, well balanced flavours, and parsnips are one of them.
For its crispy outside and sweet soft inner matches; the crispness and salt in the Yorkshire Pudding, the taste of the beef and rich thick gravy, the different sweetness of carrots, the slightly earthy taste of the green vegetables, and the heat of Horseradish or English mustard.
For you have the oven on cooking your meat, so why not use the middle shelf to cook your Roast parsnips and potato's, and the top shelf for your Yorkshire Puddings.? You have to take the meat out anyway to let it rest, which is ideal for the Roast vegetables still in the oven, and the Yorkshire Puddings.
I have just done some and put them in the oven, whilst I write down how to do them easily.
Firstly you need the oven on at gas mark six (400℉), which is normal meat cooking temperature.
Place an oven tin with a little; beef dripping, goose fat or vegetable oil in the oven.
Put on the stove a pan of salted water and start bringing it to the boil.
Then you cut the top off and a bit off the bottom of the parsnips, and then peel them just like a carrot, I use a potato peeler.
You then cut them in half length ways, then quarters, if they are large parsnips they may have a hard tough core, so that needs taking out.
You will see it in the middle when halved, so when they are quartered you can easily take a small knife, then going underneath the core cut it along the length of the parsnip, and remove it.
Then place straight into the boiling water for five minutes, then drain in a colander or large sieve . When drained but still in the colander/sieve, shake whilst dusting with plain flour.
Get the hot fat out of the oven and place the parsnips in the oven tin, making sure they are flat, as if you stack them, the ones on top will steam and not roast!
I used a pair of kitchen tongs to quickly turn them in the hot oil so they are covered all over.
Straight back in the oven for 40 minutes, get them out however after twenty minutes and turn them over quickly, then straight back till nicely cooked.
They should look like this, see photo.
Regards from England.
Neil.
