Conscious Choice: Rooting for Parsnips

March 2003 | Cooking with the Seasons

Rooting for Parsnips

by Terra Brockman

Before the first greens dare raise their heads above the cold ground, parsnips are still going strong. This pale yellow root, the size of a large carrot, grows very well in cold climates like ours and its taste is much improved by frost, which converts some of the starch into sugar.

In medieval Europe, when sugar was a rare, imported luxury, and honey was expensive, parsnips were an important sweetener. Also, because the potato had yet to arrive from the Americas, the parsnip was Europe’s primary starch vegetable for centuries. It had medicinal value as well, and medieval doctors credited parsnips with several virtues: it repelled snakes, cured toothaches, and gave men an appetite for women.

Parsnips fell out of favor after Europeans returned from the "New World" with potatoes, and parsnips were effectively demoted to animal fodder. Yet pigs lucky enough to be fed on parsnips were praised for their delicate and delicious meat, and in Italy most pigs destined for prosciutto are still fed on parsnips.

But parsnips don’t have much of a cheering section these days among people — for no better reasons than they are unfamiliar and wouldn’t win a beauty contest. Yet this unassuming, fairly frumpy looking root vegetable has a sophisticated inner life, with the sweetness of carrots and the herbal complexity of celery root and parsley root, plus its own very special nutty flavor and spicy aroma.

Put in a historical perspective, the parsnip’s current low popularity is most likely just a dip in a cycle. We could do no better than imitate the ancient Romans, who were great proponents of the vegetable. In The Roman Cookery of Apicius you can find such tasty delights as parsnips simmered in white wine and olive oil, parsnips with cumin and chives, and a vegetarian sausage made from boiled parsnips pounded with cooked spelt, eggs, nuts, pepper, and stock, then roasted in casing and served up with wine sauce.

As with most fruits and vegetables, much of the flavor and nutrition of the parsnip lies in or directly underneath the skin. So unless you need a very smooth puree, just give them a good scrub before cooking.

Roasted Parsnips

Tired of potatoes? Try roasted parsnips for your next meal’s side dish.

1 pound parsnips, cut diagonally into G-inch-thick slices

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Toss parsnips with oil, salt, and pepper in a shallow (1-inch-deep) baking pan and roast in the middle of the oven. Stir after 15 minutes, and continue cooking until golden and tender, 30 to 35 minutes total. Serves four.

Sauteed Parsnips with Parsley

This recipe comes from my sister, Teresa. She made them at Thanksgiving, and they were delicious. Even the kids thought so.

3 Tablespoons butter

1 pound parsnips, cut into H-inch chunks

2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

1. Scrub and slice the parsnips.

2. Melt the butter in a heavy skillet. When it is bubbling nicely and just starting to brown, throw in the parsnips. Cook 10 to 15 minutes, stirring and flipping the pieces over as they begin to brown. Let them brown a little, but don’t fry up in the usual sense. Just let them absorb the butteriness and become tender.

3. As soon as the parsnips are tender, stir in the parsley, salt and pepper, and serve. Serves four.

Carrot and Parsnip Mash

This is a traditional Irish recipe adapted from Irish Traditional Cooking, by Darina Allen (Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1995).

Allen says that this vegetable combo, still often made in Ireland, is also known as "Green, White, and Gold" and "Sunshine" — perfect for brightening up the last cold days of winter.

8 ounces carrots

12 ounces parsnips

3-4 Tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 Tablespoon chopped parsley

1. Wash and scrub or peel the carrots and parsnips.

2. Slice the carrots into G-inch slices. Cook in boiling salted water until soft.

3. Slice the parsnips into one-inch pieces, halving or quartering them if from the thick end of the parsnip, so that all pieces are about the same size. Cook the parsnips separately in boiling salted water until soft. The parsnips will take longer than the carrots.

4. Drain the vegetables, place in a large bowl, and mash with a fork. Alternatively, puree in a food processor.

5. Stir in the butter, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. Serves three to four.

Roasted Parsnips with Thyme

Adapted from The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld (Scribner, 2000).

2 pounds parsnips (5 to 6 medium)

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 Tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh thyme

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Cut parsnips into two-inch lengths. Quarter the thickest pieces, halve the medium ones, and leave the thinnest ones whole. You want all the pieces to be about the same size.

2. Put the butter in a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the parsnips in a single layer and put the dish in the oven until the butter melts. Stir in the brown sugar and vinegar.

3. Add the parsnips, salt, and pepper and stir to coat all the pieces evenly. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the oven and stir in the thyme. Continue to bake until the parsnips are browned and tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes. Serves six.

Parsnip Spice Cake

You can substitute parsnips in your favorite carrot cake recipe for a zingy change of pace. Or try this one: Sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar, a butter cream frosting, or left plain, it is a lovely, moist, exotic cake. My book group loved it.

1/2 cup butter

2 medium parsnips

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup raisins

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup water

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-by- 13 inch pan.

2. Peel the parsnips and grate about one cup’s worth. Set aside.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl and set aside.

4. Put the sugar, raisins, parsnip, butter, salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and water in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil for one or two minutes until the butter has melted and raisins are plump. Remove from the heat and let stand until cooled to lukewarm.

5. Pour the parsnip-raisin mixture into the flour mixture and stir just enough to moisten the dry ingredients; do not over mix. Pour into the baking dish.

6. Bake until the edges of the cake start to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Remove and let cool. Serves six to eight.

Terra Brockman is the director of The Land Connection Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving farmland and promoting small-scale, diversified, organic agriculture in Illinois. Visit www.thelandconnection.org or call 309-965-2407 to learn how to get involved.

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