Parsnips are a great addition to any vegetable dish.
Chopped root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and parsnips add color, texture and rich flavor to any stew. The parsnip is a hardy plant with a long, slender taproot that can reach up to a foot in length. Skin color varies among different types of parsnip, but the inner flesh is a consistent creamy white. Though it is available year round, October and May are its peak production months. Like other root vegetables, the parsnip is simple to clean and prepare for use. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Wash your parsnips thoroughly under a cool running faucet. Rub away any dirt or stuck-on leaves using a plastic bristled scrub brush.
2. Lay the parsnips on your cutting board and align the heads of the vegetables, where the foliage protrudes. Place the blade of your dicing knife just below the head of the parsnips and apply firm downward pressure to remove the foliage.
3. Cut the narrow end of the taproot away from the parsnip. As a general rule, cut the taproot when it reaches about a 1/2 inch in width.
4. Square the parsnip by shearing away the circular outsides of the vegetable with your dicing knife. The edges need not be perfectly straight.
5. Start from one side of the squared parsnip and begin cutting thin sections, also called planks, from the vegetable. Continue until the entire vegetable is cut into planks.
6. Stack the planks and cut into thinner strips if desired. To dice the parsnips, align the blade so that it is perpendicular to the thinner strips. Make repetitive cuts along the length of the strips until the entire parsnip is diced.
Tags: dicing knife, root vegetables, thinner strips, until entire, your dicing
