Baked parsnips and onions

The most important parsnip recipe, without which the things are, as we all know, intolerable.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

500g       parsnips             1lb
250g       onions                8 oz
25g         butter                 1 oz
25-50g    cheese, grated   1-2oz

a 1 litre/2 pint ovenproof dish, greased.

Preheat oven to 190ºC, 375ºF, gas mark 5.

1. Top and tail the parsnips, peel them and slice them thinly. 
2. Place the parsnips in a saucepan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil, and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Drain the parsnips.
4. Peel and thinly slice the onions.
5. Heat the butter in a saucepan and fry the onions until they are soft and golden—about 8 minutes.
6. Layer the parsnips and the onions in the greased dish. 
7. Sprinkle the top with cheese.
8. Bake on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until the top is nicely browned.

Serve as a vegetable accompaniment. Good with roast dinner.

Gluten free parsnip apple and orange pecan cake

Recipe from the Open University.


For the cake:
175g butter
200g light soft brown sugar
100g golden syrup
3 eggs
250g gluten free self raising flour
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
250g parsnips
125g eating apples
50g pecan nuts (or walnuts)
1 orange, zest and juice



For the Maple mascarpone frosting
250g mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp maple syrup
3-4 tbsp milk

Heat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.


Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup together in a large pan over low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Place the mascarpone in a bowl and leave for 15 minutes to warm to room temperature. Add the maple syrup and beat together until well incorporated. Add enough milk so that you achieve a thick, yet spreadable consistency. Place one cake layer on a serving plate and place spoonfuls of the frosting over the surface. Use a knife to spread the frosting out into an even layer, right to the edges of the cake. Top with the second cake layer and dust the top lightly with icing sugar.
Serve in generous slices. Even better the next day...


Meanwhile, peel the parsnips and coarsely grate them along with the apple (you can leave the skin on but remove the core). Roughly chop the pecans and finely grate the zest from the orange. Using a large spatula, whisk the eggs into the melted sugar mixture, then stir in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice. Add the parsnip, apple, pecans and orange zest. Squeeze in the juice from the zested orange and mix well. Divide the batter between the tins (they will be quite full) and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and the tops spring back when pressed lightly. Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.