Have You Tried Parsnip Fries?
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Last week, I tried Parsnip Fries for the first time at my friend Chris’s house and it was a side-dish revelation (yes, the same Chris who shamed me into cooking more – read here). I cannot fathom why I haven’t read or heard about this delightful and nutritious dish – especially because it’s dead-simple to make, even for me, who does NOT like chopping!
I’ve mastered preparing asparagus and brussels sprouts for roasting – but have long struggled with all kinds of potato chopping. Amazingly, I found peeling and chopping into ‘fry’ shape 1 parsnip far, far easier than the same prep for sweet potatoes. (I’m probably the only one who finds chopping oval sweet potatoes into long, rectangular or triangular fries difficult…but converting one shape to the other is just not intuitive to me.)
I was delighted to find that since the parsnip is already long and skinny-ish, it’s easy as pie for even spatially-challenged folks like me to cut into nice, rectangular fry-like shapes!
In fact, it was so easy I might even be able to relax my no-drinking-wine-while-chopping rule! Though that’s probably a bad idea…
OK, now that you know the up-front chopping part is easy, wait to you see how easy it is to finish the prep.
Here’s the crazy-easy ‘recipe:’ wash and peel parsnip, cut into fry-shaped pieces, splash with olive oil, salt and pepper and a seasoning of your choice (see below) and bake on a cookie sheet at 425 or so for 20-30 minutes, turning once or twice.
As to seasoning, Chris used a balti seasoning which was quite good. I went with some garam masala which I liked equally well (if you’ve never shopped Penzeys Spices, they’re a great resource). Best bet for this dish is to choose a spice with a little bite to complement the slight sweetness of the parsnip. When I make these again – and I will – I’ll try the same spice set I use for sweet potato fries – chili power and cumin – as that’d work too (though the garam masala was so good, it’ll be hard to shift!) Or you can use no seasoning beyond salt and pepper if you prefer.
I served these fab, healthy ‘fries’ with mustard roasted fish, roasted asparagus and roasted brussels sprouts. Nary a fry was left.
Don’t they look good?
Even better – these crisped up nicely, have few calories and very little fat, have zero cholesterol and are a good source of dietary fiber! All that and they taste great too!
Give them a whirl – and comment back on your favorite seasoning!
