Creamy, oozy, gooey and delicious, this parsnip pasta bake is a vegged-up healthier version of your favourite macaroni cheese. What’s not to love?!
I got two massive parsnips in my organic veg box, and spent days considering what to do with them. They really were whoppers – one was about a foot long! – and weighed in at about 200g each. I considered making parsnip soup, but DH isn’t a big soup fan. And I thought about roasting them, but I thought they might be a bit too big and woody to really shine in a dish of roasted veggies.
I thought about flavours that would work well with parsnip. These include curry spices, thyme, garlic, mustard, honey, maple syrup, smoky flavours, hard cheese, apples and coconut. TOO MUCH CHOICE! Oh, indecision…
Decisions, decisions…
I needed to get dinner on the table. We’d had potatoes the previous night, and rice the night before, so I reached for the pasta. I mentally skimmed through the ‘flavours’ list and picked garlic, mustard and cheese. And then, I combined everything into this delicious parsnip pasta bake!
Hidden vegetables
If you’re the sort of person who likes to hide vegetables in unexpected places, this parsnip pasta is for you. The sauce is thick, creamy, cheesy and delicious. I thought it tasted of parsnips in quite an obvious way, but having identified the cheese, mustard etc, DH couldn’t guess what my ‘secret ingredient’ was. He insisted that I include parsnip in the name of the recipe, so that no-one would be duped into eating cheesy pasta, only to discover they’d consumed a big plate of delicious root vegetables too.
Our daughter Kipper meanwhile, ate a huge bowl of cheesy parsnip pasta bake and even asked for seconds. She is a big fan of macaroni cheese, so it wasn’t a big surprise. Parsnip-y goodness. Yum.
Gluten-free options
A further advantage of this parsnip sauce (apart from being utterly delicious and containing a portion of vegetables) is that it’s also gluten-free. Obviously the pasta isn’t, but if you wanted a wheat/gluten-free cheesy sauce for something else, I think this would be a great option.
This made enough for 2 adults, a child, and a portion leftover for lunch. I’d say 3-4. It’s quite saucy, so you can easily add more pasta to bulk it out if you need to feed more people.
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Cheesy parsnip pasta bake
Ingredients
- 400 g parsnips (approx. 14 oz)
- 6 cloves garlic
- 175-200 g short pasta (approx. 6-7 oz)
- 300 ml milk (approx. 1⅓ cups)
- 25 g butter (scant 2 tbsp)
- 1 teaspoon English mustard
- 100 g grated cheddar (approx. 1 cup)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel the parsnips and cut into chunks. Peel the garlic cloves. Put the parsnips and garlic into a pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Drain.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet. Drain and set aside.
- Preheat the grill (broiler) to medium-high.
- Puree the drained parsnips and garlic in a food processor together with the milk, butter, mustard and half of the grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix the drained pasta with the parsnip sauce and transfer into a baking dish. Scatter over the remaining cheese.
- Cook under the hot grill for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden and everything is bubbling hot. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
If you love the delicious flavour of parsnips, why not try this creamy parsnip soup with pears, coconut and ginger, this wonderful parsnip and carrot kugel, or these delicious maple roasted parsnips.
November’s ‘The Vegetable Palette’ colour is white – parsnips! The challenge is organised by A2K – A Seasonal Veg Table and is full of lovely seasonal vegetarian recipes.
Since the parsnips came from our local organic veg box, supplied by the Cambridge Organic Food Company, I’m also entering this in the to Shop Local challenge, hosted by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary.
Finally, since this is a very autumnal dish, I’m putting it forward for Simple and in Season, hosted this month by Feeding Boys, and organised by Ren at renbehan.com
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours
A very belated thank you for sending this into #ExtraVeg. Wonderful idea for using parsnips up.
FFF
Thanks Helen! We really enjoyed eating it!
shaheen
Lovely to make your acquaintance through Vegetable Palette, I love pasta bakes but have never ever made it with parsnips, very interesting and I am kinda curious about it too, I make a lot of cakes with it, but don’t enjoy it so much as a savoury veg, but if you husband could not detect the sweetness of the root veg, then I am tempted by it.
FFF
Thanks Shaheen. I hadn’t used parsnip like this before, but I will definitely be doing it again! I could certainly taste the parsnip, even if DH couldn’t identify it, but it was delicious and very creamy. I think this may come down to personal preference – I’ve never really got on with root veg in cakes, with the exception of the (very) occasional carrot. Perhaps we should both venture out of our comfort zones 🙂
Elizabeth
What a super recipe! Proper comfort food, this! Thank you for sharing with Shop Local 🙂
FFF
My pleasure! We really enjoyed it & I can see it gracing our table plenty more times before winter is over!
Katie Bryson (@cookingkt)
Pure comfort food – lush! What a great idea for sneaking some root veggies into a meal. I’ve managed to get cauliflower into macaroni cheese, but will def have to try your spin. Thanks for hooking up with this month’s round of Simple and in Season.
FFF
Thanks Katie, and thanks for hosting 🙂
Laura
I was going to buy parsnips this weekend but then changed my mind which now I’m regretting. I’m absolutely going to try this the next time I need to use some parsnips up after making a stew. Very creative =)
FFF
Thanks Laura. Parsnips are a thing I would probably never buy either, so it’s great when I get them in my veg box! It forces me to make delicious things like this 🙂