Spiced parsnip purée with golden crumbs
- Portion size: Serves 8
- Hands-on time 30 min, simmering time 25-30 min
- Difficulty: easy
Velvet-smooth parsnip purée topped with crunchy breadcrumbs, is the ultimate Christmas side dish – once you’ve tried parsnips like this, you’ll never look back.
Check out all our Christmas dinner recipes and start planning your feast.
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Ingredients
For the purée
- 50g unsalted butter
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 2 mace blades
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cloves
- 400ml whole milk, plus a large extra splash
- 150ml double cream
- 600g parsnips, cut into even chunks
For the crumb topping
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 150g sourdough bread, roughly blitzed in a food processor or torn into small chunks
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, plus a few extra sprigs to serve
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Method
- To make the purée, melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion. Cook over a medium heat for around 10 minutes, stirring often until the onion has softened but not coloured. Add the mace, bay leaves and cloves (count them going in and count them coming out) with the 400ml milk and the cream. Bring to a very gentle simmer, then add the parsnips. Cook, covered, over a medium heat for 25-30 minutes until the parsnips are tender. Take off the heat and remove the mace, bay leaves and cloves. Whizz the parsnip mixture in a blender for perfectly smooth results, or use a stick blender. Taste and season.
- To make the crumb topping, heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat, then add the breadcrumbs and thyme with some salt. Cook, stirring, until the crumbs are crisp then set aside on kitchen paper.
- To serve, reheat the parsnip purée in a pan on the hob, stirring in a good extra splash of milk. Spoon into a warmed serving dish and scatter with the crumbs. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
- 308kcals Calories
- 21.2g (11.3g saturated) Fat
- 5.4g Protein
- 21g (7.2 sugars) Carbs
- 4.8 Fibre
- 0.3g Salt
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