I had a bit of a time trying to decide what to do for the first recipe for parsnips. Pretty much everything suggests to roast or boil them and I just have a thing against boiling things. Finally I wound up taking the route Martha Stewart would go down and used her recipe for honey roasted parsnips.
The ingredient list is short for these and probably the quickest thing I’ve done so far. You just chop them up, toss in olive oil with salt and pepper and roast them then drizzle on some honey. Any raw veggie that comes through our door gets this treatment (minus the honey part) and if I have doubts on whether or not I would enjoy it I usually roast onions with them. I just had a feeling onions wouldn’t be the best choice to pair with parsnips.
These things were kind of awkward to peel and chop since they have that huge bulb at the end. I’m not the best when it comes to chopping up chunkier stuff like this or potatoes or just oddly shaped things. I can tear through an onion (and I mean that as in ripping it apart and bawling my eyes out) no problem but I felt like a five year old trying to get these cut somewhat uniform.
They were not and I will just have to accept that.
I slightly panicked when these were cooking, they gave off a super weird smell. It was almost like a burning plastic smell but there was no plastic in the oven because I checked twelve million times, and I peeled them all to remove the waxy bits they came packaged in. Has anyone else smelled the weird roasted parsnip smell before or should I get my oven checked out? Anyway, I just put it out of my mind and let them roast…and roast…and roast. These probably got a bit more roasted than I intended.
While I have made it a point in my life to enjoy tomatoes by slowly trying them in different ways, I haven’t always felt this way about cooked carrots. I loved them raw when I was a kid, especially the cores which were so sweet and fragrant. As a semi-adult now (I may be almost 30 but I still don’t understand taxes 100%) I’ll not frown at cooked carrots when I see them at dinners or restaurants.
In between the last paragraph and this one I had to run back and taste test the leftovers again to really try my best to describe these and whether or not I enjoyed them. They have an aftertaste of carrot but I’m glad I got these darker than I intended because it makes them taste sweeter somehow especially with honey all over them. The smell leaves something to be desired though. I don’t hear well or see well but my sense of smell has never let me down. They came out pretty tender too which was nice, I was worried the core on a few would be too woody but I am having no problems chewing them.
I guess I like them? I may not buy more after this week though. Or seek them out on menus. But I could eat them if I had to. Oh man, I better think of something tasty for Thursday.
Try 52 
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