cheap vegetables (call for help)

[fpb]

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?

Comments

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

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.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

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.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

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).