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http://www.durgan.org/URL/?JLVLS 3 November 2011 Cooking Parsnips.

The last of my parsnips was cooked today. This most pleasant vegetable in not often utilized, and I suspect from not cooking in a palatable form.

Method of cooking: Wash, cut into longitudinal pieces fairly thick,steam cook for about five minutes (watch closely since it cooks quickly). After cooking place on a butter greased oven pan, swipe the parsnip slices with butter and sprinkle a small amount of brown sugar, place under broiler and brown slightly. Serve.

The broiling tends to reduce the liquid and toast the parsnips. It makes for a most attractive dish, which even children will like. Any leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and nuked for later meals. Parsnips make a good substitute for potatoes.

That sounds delicious

I've only just started harvesting my parsnips, and I'm already convinced that I didn't plant enough. I usually roast them, preferably with a little bacon.

Yeah, I usually roast them too... They also go well in a stew. One of my favourite vegetables.

They’re good mashed with potatoes too!

parsnips need to have a hard frost on them before harvesting them. it makes them very sweet. then i just peel, quater and roast them. far and away my fav root veg.

There are few parsnips eaten by most Canadians in my experience. I have never had them served at home meals. They are sold in some supermarkets. I grow a row of them, and can't give them away.

Curried parsnip and apple soup is my favourite parsnip-based soup.

It's interesting that they're not that popular in Canada - they certainly seem to be quite popular here in the UK.

Paul_C wrote:parsnips need to have a hard frost on them before harvesting them. it makes them very sweet.

A traditional saying I know, but not really true as far as I'm concerned.
I think it is the dying back of the foliage which usually coincides with the first frosts that causes the sweetness.
I was a bit worried when I moved here, as we don't get any frosts to speak of, that our parsnips wouldn't be sweet ... but they are, just as soon as the leaves die off.
Something to do with starch being converted to sugars to survive the winter I think.

Odsox wrote:

Paul_C wrote:parsnips need to have a hard frost on them before harvesting them. it makes them very sweet.

A traditional saying I know, but not really true as far as I'm concerned.
I think it is the dying back of the foliage which usually coincides with the first frosts that causes the sweetness.
I was a bit worried when I moved here, as we don't get any frosts to speak of, that our parsnips wouldn't be sweet ... but they are, just as soon as the leaves die off.
Something to do with starch being converted to sugars to survive the winter I think.

That is my view also. I eat the parsnips all Summer when they are large enough. I have had several frosts and the vegetation seem to survive without visible damage. If I leave the root in the ground sometimes they are turnip sized, and sometimes split. I prefer them about fist size or a bit smaller. I have seldom encounter a woody structure. The parsnip indicated in the picture was totally sweet. The brown sugar was just to improve the browning effect in the oven.

Farmers years ago, when we had family farms, always kept parsnips in the root cellar for Winter use, but since then the tradition of utilizing has almost disappeared. Apparently before the advent of potatoes the parsnip was a main food item in Europe.

Lacking a root cellar, I just leave them in the ground, but it can make digging them a bit tricky, especially in hard frost or after a heavy snowfall. I can certainly believe that they'd be a major food item, as they've got ideal characteristics - easy to grow, fairly reliable, fairly pest resistant, and ideal for storage right through until spring.

Durgan wrote:Apparently before the advent of potatoes the parsnip was a main food item in Europe.

It was indeed - together with beans/peas and bread, plus barley for making beer and for filling out your potage. Assuming their was enough (which there rarely was), it was actually a better diet than the fat-rich one consumed by those nearer the top.

Mike

Parsnips are very popular in Denmark. Sold in supermarkets, but mostly as mixed veg. for soup or roasted root veg.

"Fine words butter no parsnips" - was a saying I heard often as a child as a reprimand

My mother only cooked parsnips in boiled beef stew with carrots and dumplings, or roast in the oven with a beef joint, so when I had charge of my own kitchen I tried "buttering parsnips" and I love them that way now. Peel the parsnips - then roughly (or neatly if so inclined) divide the parsnips into smaller pieces, and cook with a large knob of good butter and a couple of tablespoons of water.

Do on a lowish heat on the top of the stove and keep closely covered whilst cooking then grind on a bit of black pepper.

Lovely. By the way I haven't even started on my parsnips yet, apart from the thinnings which are nice done the same way.

The other good way of cooking parsnips (as mentioned by other posters) is Parsnip Soup.
Parsnips
Onions
Good stock
Salt and Pepper
Plus a small amount of curry powder to taste -- yummy especially with home made seedy wholemeal bread

Ah now, parsnip soup mmm mmm.
My favourite is cheesy roast parsnip soup.

Boil chunks of parsnip in salted water for a few minutes (abt 5 mins I would say)
Drain and while still steaming toss in grated parmesan, then roast until soft with crispy brown bits.
Mash and mix in good flavoured stock.

If you're making potato rosti just grate a little parsnip to add to the mix and fry - lovely.