Conversation:

My mother, the great-granddaughter of an Englishwoman, loved parsnips, so I hated them. I loved carrots, and was shocked to find in her last year that she spent my childhood forcing herself to eat them so as to set a good example.

It's only lately that I've come to appreciate parsnips.

I've developed a recipe that's lovely. All the ones I'd looked at used nearly a quarter pound of butter, which is too too much for any heart. So I roll-cut the 'nips into wedges and steam for @4 minutes. While the steaming is underway, I melt 1 or 2 tbsp of salted butter and add fresh ground white cardamom, popped from the pods, dry-fried and smashed. Stir the steamed parsnips with the butter and spice to thoroughly coat, dump into a shallow roasting pan or oven proof dish, cover with foil and roast in a moderately hot oven for 25 minutes or so. Pull the foil off for the last 10 minutes to facilitate browning.

Yes, roll-cutting is labor intensive. I think it's worth the trouble, but I'm into presentation. I have a collection of 50s enameled cast iron cookware which I use for this sort of dish.

I like to make a split dish of parsnips and sweet potatoes, which I do the same way I do the parsnips, except the spice of choice is cinnamon. I use an 8 in round and separate the 2 veggies in a yin and yang design. The visual is quite nice, and the flavors complement nicely.

Yum.

That sounds gorgeous.

What does roll-cut mean?

Roll cutting is a knife technique for preparing vegetables for stir-fry. Here are two videos that explain better than I could with words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmDXM5YNPm0

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/ming-east-west/3478-roll-cutting-technique-video.htm

I use the technique for summer squash and zucchini, which cooks really fast and becomes insubstantial. The roll cut makes it a little chunkier; I finish it with a tiny bit of butter and finely grated lemon zest. It's a perfect balance to a gooey lamb stew.

I'll have a look at those videos when I get back from work. It sounds a really good technique though.

We had lamb at the weekend and spent last night making a stock. It seemed to turn out well, hopefully I can make a soup with it this evening.