I beg your parsnip...

Dear Tom

A thought accured to me, if you are going to try out the roast potatoes today then maybe you should give parsnips a go too, the reason being I cook mine together.

Ingredients

Parsnips!
And honey if you like it, don't bother with the posh expensive pots for this.

That's it. I can't tell you in weight how many to use, one medium one would give you 5-6 pieces to serve depending on how skinny they are. I would probably only eat two pieces, but my eldest son unwatched would eat 8 or 9 and always asks for seconds. I suppose I would aim to have 3-4 pieces per person.

Method

• Peel your parsnips, and chop. Chop once towards the top for your first piece, halve it if it is still carrot thickness, then standing the parsnip on it's fat end, slice down through the middle into quarters.
• Put the chopped pieces into a bowl of cold water until ready to use to prevent them going brown which they do quite quickly.
• The next bit relates to the roast potato recipe. Parsnips benefit from a very brief part boil, a couple of minutes at most, it helps them to cook through as they tend to brown quickly when roasting and not always have time to soften first.
• If cooking at the same time as potatoes - when you have brought the potatoes up to boil, pop the drained parsnips on top of them. This reduces the temperature of the water instantly. When the water comes back up to boil, use a slotted spoon to fish the parsnips out again, and pop them onto the roasting tray you will be using for your spuds. (Put them to one side of it so you can avoid them with the rosemary from the potatoes recipe)
• Roast them with your potatoes, they will take between 30-45 minutes depending on their thickness
• 5 minutes before serving, take them out, put them into a small oven proof dish and pour on enough honey to coat them
• Put them back in to the oven for 5 minutes, it heats them through and makes them lovely and sticky.

Hints and tips

Don't cut your pasnips too thinly as they will just burn, thumb thickness would be fine

When buying your parsnips don't think that bigger is better, the bigger they get, the woodier they become in the middle and then you end up having to cut out the middles as the woody bits are tough

You could use maple syrup instead of honey, and I might try out my rosehip syrup today too

Yours, looking forward to seeing your results,

Ruth