I have been a bad blogger – no post yesterday and I even cannot blame it on the Greek crisis. But let me tell you, organizing a dinner party for 12 people can mess up your schedule even worse than the lack of fiscal discipline in Greece. Fortunately, it also provided me with the subject of today (the dinner party did, not the Greeks).

If you are a regular reader, you are familiar with my quest to come up with tasty vegetable recipes – also known as The Humble Vegetable Project. My best shot at preparing parsnips in a user-friendly way is this creamy puree with hazelnuts that I referred to in my Pork with Whiskey and Honey recipe. I have served this to guests twice in recent weeks and if they were unimpressed, they hid it well.

You’ll need:
– four parsnips (take five or six, if they are small)
– 250 ml cream (I use 20% version, but go as high or low fat as you like, or half vegetable stock, half cream)
– two tablespoons of butter
– 100 grams ground hazelnuts
– 100 grams whole hazelnuts
– a generous dash of maple syrup
– salt and pepper

Peel the parsnips and chop them roughly. Heat the butter in a big saucepan and fry the parsnip pieces gently, without letting them turn brown. Add the cream and simmer at a low temperature until the parsnips are very tender (if there seems to be too little liquid, add cream or water or vegetable stock). Season with salt and pepper, pour the ground hazelnuts to the saucepan and blend with a hand-held blender. You can also do it in a food processor or just use a fork, if you don’t mind the rougher texture.

Meanwhile, fry the whole hazelnuts in a smaller saucepan (I usually do this with a little oil, less risk of burning the thingies). When the nuts look thoroughly warmed up, add the maple syrup and continue frying until the nuts are nicely caramelized. Scoop the puree into a serving dish and pour the nuts on top.

This works beautifully with all kinds of roasts, especially lamb and pork. It’s also lovely with stews, just skip the hazelnuts on top. Because of the comforting texture and earthy flavour, I find this puree especially well suited for autumn. The ground hazelnuts enhance the nutty nuance already present in parsnips and the sticky crunch on top contrasts wonderfully with the creaminess below. Even people who are suspicious of parsnips have been known to eat this.