The inspiration for this recipe comes from a Mark Hix recipe for Pan Haggerty in an Independent supplement from August 2004. That recipe is based on layers of thinly sliced potatoes, onions and cheddar cheese. I tried it out but since I never cook with dripping substituted olive oil for the dripping. It turned out well although at the first attempt a little too oily. We ate it with a venison stew.
It occured to me that it might be worth trying something similar, but slightly sweet by using parsnips instead of potatoes and shallots instead of onions. I prefer to use the larger, elongated echalion shallots rather than the tiny round ones as they are less work to peel and chop. The following is the recipe.
Serves 4 (or 8 if used as a side dish)
Ingredients
500 g parsnips
250 g shallots
125+ g Cheddar cheese
50 g butter
a little olive oil
salt and pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C
2. Peel and thinly slice the shallots
3. Melt about 40 g butter in a frying pan and gently fry the shallots for 10 minutes. Set the fried shallots aside
4. Peel and thinly slice the parsnips
5. Grate the cheese
6. Take either an oven proof frying pan or dish and grease with remaining butter
7. Cover the bottom with a layer of sliced parsnip, season with salt and pepper, then a layer of shallots, then a layer of grated cheese
8. Repeat the layers until the ingredients are used - I try to end with parsnips at the top
The picture shows the almost complete last but one layer
9. Brush olive oil over the top layer of parsnips
10. Bake for about 25 minutes
11. Increase the oven temperature to 220 °C for the last 10 minutes
12. Serve from the pan, or loosen and invert onto a warm serving plate.
2006-10-20 @ 16:56