Parsnips are awesome, and wildly underconsumed in the United States (both facts according to me). A cousin of both carrots and parsley, parsnips share the carrot’s high quantity of sugars just waiting to be brought out with heat, but also have a slightly spicy aroma that always reminds me of ginger ale.
On their own, parsnips can be overwhelming, which is why they’re often paired with other root vegetables or tempered with other strong flavors like bacon or maple syrup. (Or both.) Here I use parsnips to kick up the Swiss potato pancake known as a rösti, adding flavor, texture, and extra nutrition* to what is at heart just a good large hash brown.
*Parsnips are high in vitamins C and K as well as folic acid, and have more than twice the fiber per 100 g as a regular potato does.
Potato-Parsnip Rösti
1 russet potato (going for about 12 ounces/350 grams)
1-2 parnsips (about 4 ounces/100 grams)
1-2 tsp vegetable oil
large pinch of salt
2 Tbsp duck fat, butter, or bacon fat
You want to cook these in a saturated fat, as the potatoes will brown better and of course you’ll get more flavor. If you want a vegetarian option, I’d try coconut oil.
1. Peel and grate the potato on the coarse side of a box grater. Wrap the result in a tea towel* and squeeze as much liquid as you can out of it, wringing it tightly and squeezing again after a quick rest. This is key to getting a crispy brown exterior; if you don’t get enough moisture out, your rösti will steam when you want it to fry.
2. Peel and grate the parsnip and toss with the wrung-out grated potato.
3. Add the oil and salt and toss to thoroughly mix. You could add other spices here, but I wouldn’t go much beyond salt and black pepper.
4. In a 10- or 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of the cooking fat over medium-high heat until melted and very hot – at least 300 degrees if you have an infrared thermometer, which you should because then you can tell your daughter you’re actually a spy chef. Add the potato/parsnip mixture and press lightly to create a flat pancake that fills the skillet.
5. Cook about 8-10 minutes until the bottom is brown and crispy. This is a little tricky the first time, as it depends on your stove; you may need to moderate the heat a little to make sure the potatoes cook through without burning the bottom.
6. Flip the rösti on to a large plate, flat pan lid, or a cookie sheet. Add the second tablespoon of cooking fat to the pan, heat until melted and sizzly, then slide the rösti back into the skillet and allow it to cook for 5-6 minutes until brown and crispy on the second side.
* A tea towel … I don’t really know what the hell those are either. I have a couple of thin dishtowels that do the trick, but I also have a few white cotton handkerchiefs that I bought very cheaply a few years ago and that work great for applications just like this one.
If you love parsnips as much as I do, check out Alton Brown’s parnsip muffin recipe – I add a tablespoon of oat bran (removing the same weight of flour) and a teaspoon of vanilla, and I substitute brown sugar for half of the white – as well as the various roast and mashed parsnip recipes in Nigel Slater’s wonderful cookbook Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch
