Parsnip hash

Y’all, I have to be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the last attempt at parsnips. I truly dreaded having to come up with something today and hopefully like it. I don’t expect to like everything going into this but I expect to enjoy quite a bit because I’m honestly not picky at all in eating. To not even get out of the first month and finding something I dislike was, well, disheartening.

So I went to my mom. And I told her I would add this disclaimer that none of my opinions on here are related to her cooking. Trust me, my mom is a natural chef.

She explained how she always puts parsnips with other things.

“Just sauté them with onions,” she tells me and it all clicked. When I made the honey roasted parsnips, my favorite part was the honey. The burnt parts were the best because they were covered in that sweet stuff. Parsnips seem to take on whatever flavors they’re around so I went to work. Thank you mama!

I’ve honestly never had much of a sweet tooth, give me beef jerky over ice cream any day, much to the dismay of my sweets loving husband. I also prepared them slightly different this time. I kept reading about how it is better to really scrub a parsnip instead of peeling them. I made the mistake last time, and advocated in the intro post, of peeling them because of the waxy stuff they put on there to package. My mistake y’all, scrub your parsnips. The flavor is mostly right below the skin.

I also want to admit that I did try to salvage the honey roasted parsnip leftovers in my fridge. I blended them up with some ricotta cheese and a little more honey to try and make a kind of cracker spread.

It did not turn out pretty or delightful, it tasted like creamy mashed parsnips on a cracker and it looked worse. In the spirit of openness though I just had to share that an attempt was made and it came out looking like bean dip after a party. It strengthened my resolve to get the hash just right.

I love cooked onions loaded up with plenty of pepper and some salt. There is something so comforting about just sautéeing food with the basic salt and pepper combo and you get to enjoy a simple cooked dish. I’ve once had the fire department come out to Robby’s apartment once because I wanted sautéed mushrooms and onions at midnight before. I had no clue fire alarms were so sensitive and that they forced everyone else to evacuate just in case. I feel my skills have improved somewhat.

I was so pleased with how these turned out. I just want to put a fried egg on top and eat it all up. Fried eggs will always be the perfect hash companion so I hope one of y’all try this and do just that. I bet I could drizzle some hot sauce over it too and now you’re talking. My mom deserves major kudos on the recommendation but now I must eat my late night hash.