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Parsnip & Dried Mango Rolls
The Kosher Road Less Traveled
When you come to a fork in the road, take it! – Yogi Berra
And your fingers, spoons and knives, too. While we all take comfort and joy in traditional kosher fare, I suggest that these patterns can be wonderfully transformed, just like everyday vegetables into a new starring role. We may look at the same ingredients yet initially see them differently. And these ingredients are probably right in front of you while cruising in the grocer’s aisle.
I want these recipes to introduce you to delicious, timeless dishes and techniques that already exist in the plain light of our day. They deserve to be noticed and hopefully savored while remaining kosher.
Renewed and alive with spirit, these recipes may take you in new and maybe surprising directions. The glue of habits can be unstuck, interrupted. Let unexpected and wonderful chords vibrate through your kosher kitchen.
A few steamed lowly parsnips get transformed, just like Cinderella. The magic begins once the cooked and mashed parsnips are speckled on the inside with pretty and tasty gems. Put 'em together and what have you got? Bippity-boppity-boo!
This recipe uses dried mangoes. Choose another fruit for preference or convenience. Dried peaches are a good choice, so are dried apricots. Prunes, too, can be really delicious. Nuts are included in the mix, too. This recipe uses pine nuts.The seasonings are fresh garlic, green onions, sumac and mint, ingredients that play together nicely. I buy dried mint at a Middle Eastern grocery- they often have the most fragrant. Fresh breadcrumbs and an egg make all the alliances binding.The parsnip rolls are formed by hands. A quick dip in flour, then a shallow fry completes them. These rolls are now ready for the royal ball.
Ingredients
6-8 parsnips (about 5 cups): peeled, sliced and steamed until soft
3 tablespoons nuts: pine nuts, toasted/chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds
2 cups bread crumbs: about 4 slices of challah or soft bread
6 pieces dried mangoes (about ½ cup), diced
alternates: apricots, peaches or prunes
2 large garlic cloves: peeled and finely chopped
4 spring onions: washed checked and sliced
2 teaspoons sumac
2 teaspoons dried mint
1 large egg: broken, checked and beaten
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup flour for forming (more, if needed)
extra virgin olive or vegetable oil, for cooking
Directions
Assemble the streamer or make one.
If making: punch 8 holes in the bottom of the disposable pie plate. Place the pie plate so it fits snugly atop a pot of boiling water. Cover the plate with a wet kitchen towel.
Steam the parsnips until soft. Cool, without refrigerating, until they can be handled.
Preheat the (toaster) oven to 350 ºF.
Toast the pine nuts (or choice of nut) until golden brown. Pay attention!
Put the bread into the food processor. Process until it resembles crumbs.
Use scissors to snip the dried fruit into diced “confetti,” for example, if using dried mangos. Cut one lengthwise in two, then both halves into small dice.
Finely chop garlic or use a garlic press. Slice the green onions.
Make sure to sift the dried mint: even a small amount might have stems.
Beat the egg.
Put the cooled parsnips into a bowl. Mash them either using a fork or a potato masher. It’s okay if there are a few lumps.
Add in all the ingredients, mix and incorporate.
The parsnip mixture shouldn’t be wet. Add more breadcrumbs if the mixture is still sticky.
Taste for seasoning. The mixture should taste “lemony” from the sumac.
Get out a cookie or sheet pan.
Put ½ cup of all-purpose flour in a bowl on the work surface.
Pick up a walnut-size portion of mixture. Dip into the flour and roll into “fat oblongs.”
Add flour, as needed, when forming. The flour tames the mixture and makes it easier to handle.
Put on a cookie/baking sheet.
Repeat with the remaining mixture.
Finishing
Layer a sheet pan with paper towel.
In a large frying pan, heat a thin layer of oil over medium heat. Place a few parsnips rolls in the pan. Just don’t crowd them.
Use two forks to roll them over as they brown on all sides.
Repeat. Add oil as needed. Wait for the oil to get hot.
As the rolls finish, transfer to the lined sheet pan.
Serving
Put the rolls on a platter.
I like to serve these with a Greek yoghurt/tahini sauce mixture (as pictured).
If staying pareve, drizzle with seasoned tahini.
Yields: 6 servings (about 4 rolls each)
Notes
Lauren Stacy Berdy earned her professional diploma from Ecole de Cuisine, La Varenne Paris, France in 1978, then spent a few years working in Europe before bringing it home. She spent more than three decades as a private chef-caterer. She now resides 130 paces from the beach with her husband in Hollywood, Florida, where she wrote Remaining Kosher Volume One: A Cookbook For All With A Hechsher In Their Heart. This eBook is available on iTunes. Volume Two is well on its way.
These recipe is an excerpt from:
Remaining Kosher Volume Two: A Cookbook for All with a Hechsher in Their Heart
UDJ Productions All text © 2016 Lauren Stacy Berdy All photos © 2016 John White
Recipe text and photos may be reproduced at KosherEye.com only with full credit to Lauren Stacy Berdy and Remaining Kosher Volume Two. Provided photos may be reproduced at KosherEye.com only in conjunction or promotion of the following recipe from Remaining Kosher Volume Two. All other rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.