Root Root Root for the Parsnip!
I was standing in the check out line (mainly eyeing the bagger, whom I'd told "paper, no plastic" - too often they need reminding...but that's another story) when the cashier asked, "What are these?"
"These" were parsnips. Everyone knows what carrots look like...so, just picture white carrots. Now that most of you can picture them, the problem is reeducating your little memory tase buds, in case you haven't tried them since your mother MADE you try them back in the day.
The most common recollection is, "Aren't they kind of cabbagy?" I think this is because people confuse parsnips with turnips, and possibly rutabaga. Parsnips are sweet - denser than carrots, so probably not so good raw, but the cooked texture is similar to that of carrots. They add a wonderful depth and diversity to soups and stews. I'm even working on a Parsnip Cake idea (Someone did it with zucchini, and look what happened!) So, try them...Challenge your kids (who think they don't like them)...challenge the cashier!
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Comments
Monday, Oct. 15, 2007
Raechel
Well, my mother never served parsnips, probably because you couldn't buy them canned. So I discovered them as I discovered most vegetables -- by picking them up at the grocery store and experimenting.
Parsnips are wonderful! Sweeter than carrots, creamy when cooked. I make a pureed soup with parsnips and carmelized apples or pears; a haystack of steamed vegetables -- julienned parsnips, rutabaga (yes, I love rutabaga, too), and butternut squash; and crispy fried parsnip chips. They're great roasted with other fall root vegetables. Somehow their sweetness tones down the strong flavors of rutabaga and other turnips. And they're a great substitute for carrots in stocks, because they impart the same flavor without the weird color you sometimes get from carrots.