As we have a mere 3 weeks till Christmas, my recipe creating efforts turn to festive dishes. While I am working away on a big recipe that I am hoping will bring many of you joy, this week I came up with a platter of roast parsnips in orange miso glaze to start with.
Parsnips are a mainstay of British Christmas tables so that’s why I landed on them as a side dish this year. They are sweet and earthy with a hint of spice so I figured that they will lend themselves well to my slightly sweet and spicy treatment and I wasn’t wrong.
These roast parsnips in orange miso glaze make for a beautiful Christmas side, they are soft and fudgy on the inside, sweet and fruity on the outside, fragrant with orange, cinnamon and nutmeg and crunchy with toasted walnuts. So simple yet absolutely delightful, I hope you’ll agree.
MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
PARSNIPS: Parsnips are the key ingredient here so I would encourage you to get the nicest you can find. I went for organic as my intention was not to have to peel them (saves time and adds flavour) but non organic ones can be cleaned really diligently too. Otherwise peeling is always an option.
SAGE: Sage is a beautiful winter herb that goes with so many of the flavours in this dish so that’s what I chose to use. I love fried sage so I fried in the olive oil used in this recipe and used to the leaves to decorate the dish. Thyme would also be a great herb to use although it doesn’t yield itself well to trying as the leaves are too tiny.
HAZELNUTS: As parsnips are soft and fudgy rather than crunchy, this dish cries out for some crunch and that’s why I used a generous amount of hazelnuts. I toasted them in the oven, toasting doesn’t just make nuts crunchier, it also improves their flavour but you can buy ready roasted (and shelled) hazelnuts too so pick that option if you wish.
ORANGE: Orange is such a classic Christmas ingredient to me so I used some orange juice to create my sticky parsnip glaze and a bit of orange zest to finish the dish off. You probably do not want to use the zest of an entire orange here (unless you REALLY REALLY love orange) but a touch of zest is lovely.
MISO: Salty and umami-rich miso is such a beautiful addition to any glaze. I used white (also known as shiro) miso. I used standard miso, but if you are making this dish for someone who is Celiac, for example, or otherwise gluten intolerant be sure to purchase miso that is not based on wheat, but rice, quinoa, millet – they can be found online or in good health shops.
OLIVE OIL: Olive oil is pretty self-explanatory. I used extra virgin olive oil but cooking olive oil is also perfectly fine.
VEGAN BUTTER: I added a touch of vegan butter – Danish Naturli is my favourite brand – to the glaze but any butter is fine. If you cannot get hold of it, simply use a bit more olive oil.
MAPLE SYRUP: A bit of maple syrup is helpful to accentuate parsnips’ natural sweetness and to create a glaze.
SPICES: I added a touch of warming winter spices – cinnamon and nutmeg – to underscore parsnips natural sweetness and I really like that addition, but of it’s not for you – simply skip them.
HOW TO MAKE IT?
1) PREP PARSNIPS
Start off with prepping your parsnips. You can peel them if you wish, but I didn’t. I brought organic parsnips and scrubbed them really well and I feel that’s enough – a lot of flavour hides just under the skin. Whether you peel your parsnips of not, top and tail them and cut in half if smallish and into quarters if large – the aim here is to have roughly same sized pieces so that they bake at the same rate.
2) PARBOIL PARSNIPS
The next step is to parboil the parsnips really briefly, which makes them fudgy after baking and not shriveled up and dry. I only parboiled mine for 3 minutes, then cooled and dried them before coating in some olive oil and baking for 15 minutes.
3) MAKE A GLAZE
While the parsnips are baking, fry off some sage leaves and set aside for decoration. Next, combine sage-flavoured oil with miso, orange juice, maple syrup and spices and simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken and create a fragrant glaze.
4) BAKE TO PERFECTION
After 15 minutes remove the parsnips from the oven and brush on some of the glaze. Carry on baking for another 25 minutes or so, until sticky and caramelised.
- 600 g / 21 oz parsnips
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp / 15 g vegan butter (I used Naturli)
- 10 sage leaves
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml maple syrup
- 1 heaped tbsp / 20 g white miso*
- cinnamon & nutmeg, a couple of pinches each
- 1 orange, juiced + some zest for decoration
- 35 g / 1/3 cup roasted hazelnuts chopped
- Set the oven to 200° C / 390° F and line a baking tray with a piece of baking paper. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Peel your parsnips if you wish (scrub well if not peeling), top and tail. Cut into half lengthwise and into quarters if particularly thick.
- Parboil the parsnips for 3 minutes, drain and cool down.
- Coat cooled parsnips in 1 tbsp of oil, spread on the baking tray and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Warm up remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and vegan butter in a small frying pan, once it comes to temperature fry sage leaves in it until crisp. Remove sage from the pan, place on a piece of paper towel and sprinkle with a little salt.
- To the pan with olive oil, whisk in miso, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and a quarter cup (60 ml) of orange juice. Simmer for a couple of minutes until thickened.
- Brush some of the glaze onto the parsnips and bake for another 10 minutes, turn them, brush the other side and bake for another 10-15 minutes until charred in places.
- Transfer to a serving platter, season to taste, dust with a little (not all) orange zest, decorate with chopped hazelnuts and fried sage leaves.