Saturday, December 25, 2010

Day 132

Parsnips: Today's blog entry was a surprise - it was something that I hadn't planned on eating, which is always great. My uncle from Atlanta came up to my parents' house in SC today, and he brought some foods from home to serve during our Christmas feast. We had a lot of the usual staples (smoked turkey, dressing, mac & cheese, etc.), but he brought some various root vegetables for roasting. One of them was parsnips, which amazingly, I've never had. Every now and then, I encounter a fairly common food item that I've never experienced. I know parsnips may not seem all that interesting, but they're new to me.
I knew that parsnips were a root vegetable similar to carrots, but that's about all. I wasn't able to get a picture of the whole, uncooked parsnip, but my uncle had sliced them, then roasted in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. I love almost any vegetable roasted in that fashion, so I was eager to try these.

Once they were finished roasting, I was able to try a few bites. The taste/texture definitely reminded me of carrot, but these were noticeably sweeter. I also noticed a little more stringiness in the texture than what I'm used to with a carrot, but it wasn't a problem at all. I think I actually liked these a bit more than roasted carrots, and I'd like to explore some turnip recipes at home. I just noticed one online that combines mashed roasted parsnips with butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg - yum.

I'll definitely be adding these to my vegetable rotation - highly recommend.

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