My husband loves potatoes in any form and thought he was eating French fries. Until I told him he just inhaled a plate of parsnips. What’s a parsnip, he asked? Good question. Parsnips are a root vegetable and they have more in common with carrots than with potatoes. Visually, parsnips resemble carrots and are those long, pointy vegetables with hash-marked skins that you’ve probably noticed them in the grocery store near the carrots, turnips, rutabagas, and fennel but may have dismissed them as a funny-looking blonder-hued carrot. Parsnips are usually pale in color, ranging from creamy tones to pale yellow, and are much lighter than their orange cousins, carrots.
Parsnips tend to be sweeter than carrots and more buttery, which is accentuated in the cooking process. Parsnips have a slightly spicy flavor, in a similar way that ginger and cardamom pack some warm-toned heat and spice. Until Scott was hip to the parsnip bait-and-switch, he said he liked the ginger I used in the potatoes. Exactly. Nutritionally speaking, parsnips are very high in vitamin C, and have ample amounts of manganese, potassium, and folic acid. They’re also excellent sources of soluble and insoluble fiber, something which potatoes lack.
To make the fries, I peeled and trimmed the parsnips, and at their thickest part, I kept the slices about one-quarter inch wide. Cutting them thin enough so they crisp up nicely, but not too thin so they don’t shrivel up into little char-broiled nothings, is important. Then place the trimmed parsnips in a large bowl and sprinkle and toss them with a bit of cornstarch, which helps them to crisp up better as they bake. Transfer the coated parsnips to a lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive or vegetable oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and any optional seasonings from curry to cayenne that strike your fancy, and then bake.
After about twenty minutes of cooking, flip the parsnips over and drizzle with a few additional tablespoons of oil, if they’ve dried out. Bake for an additional fifteen minutes or until they’re as browned and crispy as you like. I find the secrets to getting baked vegetable fries crispy is both the cornstarch and quite a hot oven. The oven needs to be at a higher temperature so it flash-cooks the vegetables and allows them bake up crispier, rather than a low and slow oven, which is geared toward tenderizing food. Because of the hot oven, watch the parsnips closely as the baking time draws near because they will have a tendency to go from browned to burned in those final moments.
Because of the fibrous nature of parsnips, the fries have plenty of texture and chewiness, much more so than a potato-based fry. All that texture makes for some great dipping. The more you chew, the more you want to dip. And dip again. I like a little food with my dip and the parsnips are firm enough to really dredge through a bowl of thick, creamy dip, and they hold up to it without caving or breaking, much like a thick-cut French fry can really hold up to maximum ketchup slathering. The dip is a blend of balsamic reduction and (veagn) sour cream, or use Greek yogurt. I love balsamic vinegar and vinegar of any kind. Sometimes I let my homemade kombucha ferment just to the edge of turning into vinegar and relish in those tangy, pungent, sinus-clearing sips. Balsamic reduction is especially delightful because it concentrates the vinegar’s punch, yet the sharp tanginess is mitigated by brown sugar, and I really could eat the thick sauce from a spoon.
People tend to make a big deal about balsamic reduction and when I see jars of very overpriced balsamic reduction in stores, I cringe. My version takes ten minutes and costs pennies to make. Combine balsamic vinegar and brown sugar in a small saucepan, heat until they boil, and just allow the mixture to reduce. Because I keep the heat higher than just a low-grade simmer, the reduction goes very fast, in about five minutes, and it’s so simple. Combine the mouth-puckering reduction with a bit of sour cream for a perfectly creamy and cooling dip. The cooling effect of the sour cream balanced the inherent warming qualities of the parsnips and it was a great balance. Plus, I liked the pale plum color of the dip. Bonus points for purple dip.
I started with two pounds of parsnips before trimming or cooking them and an hour later, every last morsel had been inhaled. My five year old loved them and dipped hers in ketchup, Scott liked his with Homemade Spicy Honey Mustard, and I was in balsamic reduction heaven. Ever since I made these, Scott’s been asking for more parsnip fries. Not French fries; parsnip fries. And so I consider this recipe a success on more than one level.
Related Recipes:
Caribbean Citrus Roasted Sweet Potatoes – Yams and sweet potatoes can do no wrong and I played up their naturally sweet attributes by roasting them with Caribbean-themed spices Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Roasted Carrot and Red Pepper Peanut Soup (vegan, gluten-free, soy-free) – I roasted the carrots and peppers in this soup until they were very well-done, and pureed them with coconut milk, peanuts, and peanut butter, for a soup was a smokey, hearty, easy, and robustly flavored
Roasted Sweet Potato Fries (vegan, GF) – I’ll never tire of good old-fashioned roasted sweet potatoes and strongly prefer roasted sweet potatoes to roasted white potatoes Sweet Potato Graham Cracker “French Toast” Sticks – Don’t judge a book by it’s cover because you’ll miss out on how to turn sweet potatoes into French toast sticks, complete with their own baked-in streusel topping. This recipe was included in the Trader Joe’s cookbook I was a contributing author in, and if potatoes can be dessert, this recipe is how
Roasted Grapes and Balsamic Reduction with Cheese and Crackers – Roasting grapes brings out their natural sweetness and they absorb just a bit of the olive oil while roasting. If you ever have grapes that are a bit past their prime, roasting them is a great way to use them. Drizzled in balsamic vinegar, and served with cheese and crackers, this is an easy holiday party appetizer
Tempeh and Cucumbers on a Stick with Brown Sugar Balsamic Reduction Dip (vegan, GF if GF tempeh is used) – My love of balsamic reduction means I’ll dip almost anything into it, from parsnip fries to tempeh and cucumbers
Have you tried parsnips or made any non-potato based fries? Balsamic vinegar fan? I’d love to hear about your favorite parsnip recipes or recipes for baked fries of any sort. Or hear if you love vinegar and vinegar recipes as much as I do.
