Does anyone know a way to make parsnips not taste nasty? Likewise, what is the best (as in tastiest and most enjoyable) way to cook cabbage? Or should I take my mother's advice and just have it raw in salad?
I don't like raw cabbage, but I love it cooked. However my tastes for cabbage are rather simple. I will eat cabbage in a boiled dinner quite happily. Also, I eat sauerkraut straight. So I may not be the best person to give you advice on cabbage as I'll eat pretty much any kind of cabbage that isn't raw.
Parsnips are one of the few vegetables my mother dislikes so I never had much exposure to them. The last time I remember having them was for Christmas dinner, where we had bite-sized chunks that were roasted and served with a curry dip. I didn't like the dip very much but I liked the tastes of the parsnips.
Are you looking for ways to basically disguise the taste? Parsnips can be boiled and mashed with milk and spices, I know that for sure. Pretty much the same kind of things you can do with carrots. I imagine that they would be tasty cooked with orange glaze, like carrots, for example.
I kind of like sauerkraut myself, and often use it as an ingredient in sandwiches - or even on its own when I have no fresh green salad - but I find it surprising that a food lover of your calibre should find boiled cabbage appealing. But then, tastes are weird things. Everyone but me thinks melanzana - eggplant - is a great vegetable, and, for that matter, I am not a great lover of the supposed king of wines, champagne.
I think the nostalgia factor can't be overlooked. My mom makes wonderful (or at least I think so) cabbage soup which sits on the flame for hours and hours, and that's a comfort food for me. Big hunks of cabbage and potato, fennel and caraway I think as the main spices. Sausage pieces. Yum.
I like the way that the cabbage at that point kind of melts in one's mouth. I don't find the flavor to be skunky or overpowering the way that, say, overcooked brussels sprouts are. I find it a very mild and even slightly sweet taste.
I don't like eggplant either! But I like champagne (and sparkling wines in general).
Parsnips are very good glazed. Peel and slice. Put in a pan with water to just cover, a pinch of salt, a nob of butter and spoonful of brown sugar or, better, a shot of maple syrup. Cook fairly rapidly until the parsnips are cooked and there's just a little sauce remaining in the pan. I also like them roasted.
With cabbage it all depends on the kind of cabbage.
Um... the kinds you see most often here in England are white, red, Savoy and curly kale. Also there is something called just "greens", which I never tried, but which I think belongs to the family. Any suggestions? And thanks.
Spring greens are really nice and have a sort of peppery taste. Just steam and add a bit of butter. Savoy cabbage is similar but not quite as good IMO.
Red cabbage can be braised with onion, some wine vinegar, sugar and a couple of cloves and a cinnamon stick.
I'm not a huge fan of ordinary white cabbage but it's ok in a salad. I like to mix shredded cabbage, some shredded sauerkraut and some slivers of sweet red peeper. Dress with either olive or mustard seed oil, cider vinegar, salt and paprika.
Kale can be steamed. It also makes a good soup with potatoes. I also use it as the basis for one of the fillings in a vegetarian lasagna. Filling 1 is ricotta, cooked kale and basil pureed together. Filling 2 is a spicy tomato sauce. Usual lasagna rules apply.
White and savoy cabbage can also be used for various stuffed cabbage and cabbage roll type dishes. There are a million variations from just about every part of Europe.
Raw cabbage is abominable but lightly steamed in a collander or boiled for not more than 10 minutes- usually less - it is sublime with just a little butter and salt. One of the best and cheapest vegetable dishes available. Just separate the leaves with your fingers. Toss in a piece of smoked meat if you wish.
Add to any vegetable soup a few minutes before serving. If you want to invest a little time baked cabbage stuffed with tomatoes, cheese, and ham is a delicios supper.
Or honor your adoptive homeland and look up one of the many recipes for bubble and squeak, if you like potatoes.
Parsnips (pasturnakes, skirrets, etc.) were much used in winter medieval cuisine. So there are all kinds of recipes for boiling them in beer or milk or almond milk, mixing them with apples and carrots or turnips or lettuce, mashing them like potatoes, making them into fritter fillings, and so on.
Sir Kenelm Digby and Martha Washington also had some good recipes for parsnips.
My mother thinks of them as African-American food, and indeed "soul food parsnips" is also a good search term. Lots of oxtail and parsnip soup, chickpea and parsnip soup, that kind of thing.
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Parsnips are one of the few vegetables my mother dislikes so I never had much exposure to them. The last time I remember having them was for Christmas dinner, where we had bite-sized chunks that were roasted and served with a curry dip. I didn't like the dip very much but I liked the tastes of the parsnips.
Are you looking for ways to basically disguise the taste? Parsnips can be boiled and mashed with milk and spices, I know that for sure. Pretty much the same kind of things you can do with carrots. I imagine that they would be tasty cooked with orange glaze, like carrots, for example.
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I like the way that the cabbage at that point kind of melts in one's mouth. I don't find the flavor to be skunky or overpowering the way that, say, overcooked brussels sprouts are. I find it a very mild and even slightly sweet taste.
I don't like eggplant either! But I like champagne (and sparkling wines in general).
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With cabbage it all depends on the kind of cabbage.
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Red cabbage can be braised with onion, some wine vinegar, sugar and a couple of cloves and a cinnamon stick.
I'm not a huge fan of ordinary white cabbage but it's ok in a salad. I like to mix shredded cabbage, some shredded sauerkraut and some slivers of sweet red peeper. Dress with either olive or mustard seed oil, cider vinegar, salt and paprika.
Kale can be steamed. It also makes a good soup with potatoes. I also use it as the basis for one of the fillings in a vegetarian lasagna. Filling 1 is ricotta, cooked kale and basil pureed together. Filling 2 is a spicy tomato sauce. Usual lasagna rules apply.
White and savoy cabbage can also be used for various stuffed cabbage and cabbage roll type dishes. There are a million variations from just about every part of Europe.
Cabbages for kings
Raw cabbage is abominable but lightly steamed in a collander or boiled for not more than 10 minutes- usually less - it is sublime with just a little butter and salt. One of the best and cheapest vegetable dishes available. Just separate the leaves with your fingers. Toss in a piece of smoked meat if you wish.
Add to any vegetable soup a few minutes before serving. If you want to invest a little time baked cabbage stuffed with tomatoes, cheese, and ham is a delicios supper.
Or honor your adoptive homeland and look up one of the many recipes for bubble and squeak, if you like potatoes.
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Cabbage
Re: Cabbage
America's #1 Side Dish
http://allrecipes.com//Recipes/salad/coleslaw/Main.aspx
Re: America's #1 Side Dish
cabbage and parsnips
I know they will have parsnip recipes as well, but my mother just dices them and fries them in butter. Salt and pepper to taste.
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(Anonymous) 2011-01-18 12:42 am (UTC)(link)Sir Kenelm Digby and Martha Washington also had some good recipes for parsnips.
My mother thinks of them as African-American food, and indeed "soul food parsnips" is also a good search term. Lots of oxtail and parsnip soup, chickpea and parsnip soup, that kind of thing.