We went straight from Zucchinipalooza to Carrotextravaganza around here this fall. While I had only a modest harvest of carrots from my community garden plot this year, the farm that provides us with our CSA share baskets had a positive bumper crop, and so for quite awhile now, we’ve been pretty much swimming in carrots. It’s not a bad problem to have – we’ve had various carrot breads, soups (click through to see my purple carrot soup), and a cake with cream cheese filling. My hubby, the avowed Meatatarian, will actually eat carrots, so we’ll get through the rest of them with little trouble.
The parsnips are another story.
I didn’t grow parsnips this year (nor have I ever – they’re on my list of Crops to Plant One Day in the Nebulous Future). But our CSA baskets have been FULL of them. According to the owner of the farm, this is only the second year they’ve grown parsnips, but their success was “amazing.”
Of course, my hubby won’t touch them with a ten foot pole. He won’t even eat them roasted, glazed with a bit of butter and brown sugar, which is really my favourite way to prepare them.
So I took a cue from the carrot madness we have going on and baked a cake.
Parsnip Cake
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (you could use agave syrup if you don’t have maple, but maple tastes best)
3 eggs (if you wish to substitute a flax gel* in place of 1 egg, you could)
2 cups all-purpose flour (you could sub out 1/4 cup of white flour for whole wheat, if you prefer. I’m also thinking of experimenting with almond meal)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
3 cups parsnips, peeled and grated
1 apple, peeled and chopped finely
Juice of 1 orange
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two loaf pans and line with parchment.
Melt butter and cool slightly. Add sugar, maple syrup, and eggs, and mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder, and spices and combine. Fold in parsnips, apple, and orange juice and stir until evenly distributed throughout the batter. Pour into prepared loaf pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
(*To “make” an egg out of flax, mix 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed in 3 tbsp. water and let sit until it gels, about 5 minutes).
And that is how you get someone to eat their parsnips. 😉
Do you grow parsnips in your garden? More importantly, do you EAT parsnips? What are your favourite parsnip recipes?
Related posts – Parsnip Cake (From Sewing Room to Potting Shed)
Flowery Prose. 