Parsnip Purée
“Parsnips are really delicious and so underappreciated,” explains Ina Garten, who shares this recipe from her new cookbook, Go-To Dinners. Best of all, “This is about as easy as a side dish gets,” she says, making it the perfect side dish to accompany the turkey on your Thanksgiving table. You can even make the dish in advance, refrigerate it and reheat it gently on the stove at the last minute, adding more liquid, if necessary, to achieve a creamy texture.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb. (750 g) parsnips, scrubbed and sliced 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, diced
Directions
Place the parsnips in a medium pot, add 1 Tbs. salt and add enough water to cover the parsnips. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then uncover, lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the parsnips are very soft when tested with a small knife. Don’t drain the pot!
With a slotted spoon or small strainer, transfer the parsnips to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse to chop the parsnips. Pour the cooking liquid into a glass measuring cup and pour 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) down the feed tube. Purée the parsnips, adding more cooking liquid (about 1 cup/8 fl. oz./250 ml total) through the feed tube until the parsnips are creamy and almost smooth but still have some texture. Add the butter and 1/2 tsp. pepper and purée until combined. Taste, season with more salt and pepper, if desired, and serve hot. Serves 4.
Reprinted from Go-To Dinners. Copyright © 2022 by Ina Garten. Photographs copyright © 2022 by Quentin Bacon. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.