Roasted Parsnips

My english friends will tell you that Parsnips are horrible things they make you eat at school. However it was in England where John learned to prepare parsnips in a way that has most people ask not only How do you cook these?, but also What are these?

If a grateful participant receiver of a root vegetable is not only asking questions of how but what as well, then the task of cook has been more than acheived.

An Englishman's way to prepare parsnips: cut them in half, remove the core and then cut them into thin strips, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, coat the parsnips lightly with grapeseed oil, season with salt, pepper and a little bit of sugar, roast them until they start to turn brown, stir them and continue roasting until they brown some more.

Of course starting with great parsnips is important. We got our parsnips last week from the Path Valley Cooperative where we get most of our produce this time of year. You can get parsnips at pretty much any farmers market right now.

Last weekend we served parsnips at both of the weekends Home Restaurants with cocktails. We placed them on a platter with a pumpkin seed roasted garlic dip.