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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Parsnips Bravas


The man and I have been busy preparing garden beds for growing vegetables recently. We are attempting this on a larger scale than our previous endeavours into vegetable gardening and have done a fair bit of research along the way. My mother in law lent me her copy of Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion, an incredibly useful resource for growing and utilising various fruits and veg which also includes lots of recipes, mostly vegetable based. In addition to taking notes from the relevant vegetable chapters for gardening tips, I also scanned through the recipes and took photos of several ones that captured my interest.

One of these recipes was Parsnips Bravas. Although I haven't had much experience eating Spanish food, Patatas Bravas is something I've been keen on trying as crispy potatoes paired with a spicy tomato sauce sounds like a dish I would adore. Parsnips are a vegetable I purchase on rare occasions, usually to roast or add to a soup and I can't recall making anything where they have had more of a starring role. I became enamoured with the idea of Parsnips Bravas and decided that Patatas Bravas would have to wait for another day.


It was a simple recipe to put together, the parsnips were cut into sticks and roasted with olive oil and sea salt. While they were in the oven a chunky tomato sauce with onion, garlic, chilli, smoked paprika and saffron simmered away on the stovetop. When the parsnips had finished roasting, it was only a matter of tossing them through the sauce and adjusting the seasoning.

Everyone loved the Parsnips Bravas. The sauce packed enough punch without being overwhelming spicy and I adored the flavour that the saffron stamens brought to the dish. We enjoyed this with a Fry's schnitzel topped with pizza sauce and vegan cheese, roast potatoes and steamed broccoli. This is a recipe I'll definitely be making again when I'm in the mood for eating parsnips.


Parsnips Bravas (Adapted from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion)

250g parsnips
Olive oil spray
Sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 birds eye chillies (depending on your chilli tolerance)
200g fresh tomatoes, diced (or use ½ of a 400g tin of diced tomatoes)
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
A pinch of sugar
10 saffron strands

Preheat oven to 200C.

Cut parsnips into bite sited pieces (I cut a couple of sticks from the bottom and quartered the fat tops to make 6 pieces from each parsnip). Line a roasting tray with baking paper and spray lightly with olive oil. Place the parsnips on the tray, spray with additional oil and season with a pinch or two of sea salt. Roast for 45 minutes or until tender and golden, turning the pieces after 25 minutes.

While the parsnips are roasting, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a deep sided frying pan. Fry the onion and garlic over medium heat for 8 minutes or until softened and beginning to colour. Add the chilli, tomatoes, smoked paprika, sugar and saffron and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will be thick and spicy after this time. When the parsnips have finished roasting, toss them through the sauce and season with additional sea salt if required.

18 comments:

  1. Ingenious! I don't use parsnips nearly often enough. I love the addition of saffron too. It sounds heavenly!

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    1. Thanks Cadry, I don't use parsnips often enough either. I should buy them more regularly after loving them in this dish.

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  2. that sounds like a brilliant take on patatas bravas - a bit lighter and lots of great parsnip flavour - definitely on my bookmarks

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    1. Thanks Johanna, I would like to try a less healthy fried version of patatas bravas one day as it does sound great too. This version was definitely on the lighter side.

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  3. Like you, I have only had parsnips in soup and stews where they disappear amongst other ingredients. I think I'd love this though, and like you, can picture it alongside a Fry's schnitzel :) I'll look forward to hearing how your gardening goes too!

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    1. Thanks Kari, I try not to eat Fry's schnitzels too often but they are definitely one of my favourite convenience foods and I always pair them with lots of veg to compensate ;) I'm looking forward to cooking with some garden produce in due course and will definitely write a post or two about my gardening experiences. Your recent post about celeriac got me thinking that a celeriac bravas could work well too!

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  4. Looks delicious, Mel! I spent two summers in Spain, so I love patatas bravas. Parsnip bravas are a great idea to change it up a bit.

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    1. Thanks Colynn, you lucky thing spending time in Spain! I'm sure you would have eaten some really delicious patatas bravas during your travels.

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  5. I don't know if I've *ever* had parsnips -- crazy, huh? This sounds great!

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    1. Thanks Bobbie, that's not so crazy really. I can think of quite a few vegetables that haven't made their way onto my plate yet.

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  6. That's a really clever idea - nice! I normally have parsnips roasted with a Sunday roast. All this time I've been cooking them and never realising that they were crying out for a spicy sauce like this one!

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    1. Thanks Joey, I love that you have a Sunday roast. I've always enjoyed roasted parsnips but this recipe was a great way to mix it up.

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  7. Lovely dish! Would you be happy to link it in to the new Food on Friday which is all about parsnip and pumpkin? This is the link . I do hope to see you there. Cheers

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Carole and for passing on the invite.

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  8. Mel, thanks for popping over and adding to the collection. Hope you have a lovely weekend and that I see you again soon. Cheers

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    1. What a huge collection of recipes you have over there! I'll enjoy perusing them over the weekend. Have a great one too!

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  9. Can't say I'm a parsnip fan but this I reckon I'd be brave enough to give a go :-)

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    1. Thanks Sandy, perhaps this could change your mind about parsnips if you are daring enough to give it a try...

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