This sounds like a bit of an odd duck of a dish but bear with me; it is absolutely delicious. It is inspired by a dish that my sister and I tried at a local restaurant during a recent visit. The restaurant served their version of the dish with halved parsnips, but I like my batons instead. It helped me to avoid the one glaring issue with the original dish, which is that the restaurant had undercooked what we were served, and added caramelized bits to the plate which were definitely moreish.
I had a huge bowl of this as dinner but, as is, it is really more suited to being an appetizer dish or part of a tapas style dinner. Next time I make it for myself as a one dish dinner, I think that a healthy dose of plain lentils under the parsnips will be a good addition. No matter how you make it or how you serve it, I really do recommend that you try this -- I think that you will be very pleasantly surprised.
You can increase this recipe to suit your needs. I have found that, though it might seem like a lot, two parsnips make for a good one-person portion.
2 parsnips, topped and tailed, peeled and cut into equal sized batons
2 tsps maple syrup
2 tsps mustard (preferably grain, but regular Dijon is fine)
1 tsp olive oil
Generous dollop plain full-fat Greek or Turkish yogurt
2 tsps pumpkin seeds
2 tsps chopped nuts ( I used walnuts)
2 tsps furikake (Japanese seaweed seasoning that can nowadays be found in the Asian food section of most grocery stores)
As illustrated above I added chopped green onion to the dish, but I found the addition unnecessary
Salt to taste
Preheat the oven to 425.
Toss the parsnips with the maple syrup. mustard and olive oil. Spread in one layer on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Dribble any of the liquid left in the bowl over the parsnips and salt lightly.
Bake for twenty minutes, stirring at the half way mark to ensure that the parsnips get cooked on all sides.
Remove from the heat.
Dollop some yogurt straight from the fridge into a dish. Top with the hot parsnips and then sprinkle with the various garnishes. The different textures and temperatures as well as the contrast of sweet parsnips, tangy yogurt and salty seaweed make this a really interesting dish to sink your teeth into! Each bite will be slightly different, and yet, each will be truly yummy.