Parsnip surprises.

[amateur51]

The cooking banana is called saba. It's shorter and sweeter than the West Indian plantain. It's used for many things - an additional ingredient for casserole-type dishes, for instance - but you see it every day as 'bananacue', sold from street stalls. The saba is rolled in hot oil and melted sugar for just a few miutes. Three or four are then skewered lengthways on bamboo and sold immediately. The banana is just cooked and the caramelised sugar has become crunchy. They're delicious, but there's a limit - diabetes is a big concern in the Philippines (it's a sugar-producing country and the stuff is everywhere).

As for fish and shellfish, well there are 7,000 islands here, so the sea has always been important. We live in a place called Roxas City, which calls itself the Seafood Capital of the Philippines. There certainly is an abundance here, much of it new to me, but very delicious. The most popular, everyday, freshwater fish are tilapia and bangus, but the variety of things is amazing - whole tuna, swordfish. My usual comment on Fiipino gastronmic philosophy is "if it moves, eat it".

Beer is, predictably, all of the lager variety, most of it made by the San Miguel company (which is Filipino), but it's decent stuff and comes in several flavours and strengths. You need cold beers, anyway. Rum is very popular (all that sugar again) and Gilbey's London Gin, bottled here under licence, comes in at about £3 a litre.

I hope ths gives a flavour of the difficult life I have. It's hardly about parsnips, but you can't have it all. I'll just go and get a cocnut.

Many thanks for a great report, Pabs

I've just checked Roxas City on t'internet and you'll not believe this - it's not covered by the London Underground!

What an astonishing oversight

[Anna]

Parsnip cake is good

Is that the same recipe as carrot cake? Sounds interesting. Recipe please.
I imagine you could do parsnip rosti, or maybe use half potato half parsnip? Anyone tried that?

[umslopogaas]

Pabmusic, aha, the Philippines, so that's where Capiz is. Not very far from Papua New Guinea, where I once worked for many years. Your list of vegetables and fruits sounded very familiar.

One thing I advise not trying, if you havent already found this out for yourself, is home-made pineapple wine. I had a garden full of pineapples and got periodic gluts of fruit. You cannot give them away, because they are seasonal and when you've got a glut, everyone else has too. Fond as I am of fresh pineapple there's a limit to how many I can scoff, so I decided to have a go at turning the surplus into wine. You know how under that delicious fresh taste there is a slight turpentine flavour? In the finished product all the freshness has disappeared and you are left with an alcoholic flagon of turpentine. It is a most revolting tasting concoction, even my Papua New Guinean houseboy wouldnt drink it.

We had San Miguel beer, brewed in PNG under licence, and also South Pacific lager: one in green bottles, favoured by the expats, and another in brown bottles, favoured by the New Guineans. As far as I could tell they were exactly the same, but most expats were insistent on 'greenies'.

[french frank]

Is that the same recipe as carrot cake? Sounds interesting. Recipe please.
I imagine you could do parsnip rosti, or maybe use half potato half parsnip? Anyone tried that?

I've tried sweet potato rösti and wasn't keen - it was too dry. The reason why I use raw potato is that it retains its juiciness - very unpleasant in some people's view as it has that starchiness about it. S_A has disabused me of thinking that it was the way the Zurichers cooked rösti, so it seems it's just me. Eating it alone

And, no - I don't do puddings (other than the occasional crème renversée): I prefer fresh fruit.

[Anna]

Ah! Sweet potatoes, so lovely roasted aren't they? Actually, cannot be asked to do rosti, all that faffing around and grating .... Should this be a root vegetable thread? Personally, I like swede, that's good roasted but again, too strong a flavour for some, good mashed up with carrot for those who want it diluted. As for puddings, I'd rather have some cheese.

[mercia]

fine words .............

[amateur51]

fine words .............

[Anna]

The equivalent Russian proverb, in translation, appears to be You can't feed a nightingale with fables Which is rather lovely. I shall use that in future!

[MrGongGong]

Is that the same recipe as carrot cake? Sounds interesting. Recipe please.
I imagine you could do parsnip rosti, or maybe use half potato half parsnip? Anyone tried that?

This would work (in the past i've just used a carrot recipe and substituted snips )

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12983/catherine-berwicks-parsnip-and-maple-syrup-cake

having dug up almost all our spuds yesterday
we will now embark on the rosti season to use up all the ones inadvertently stuck a fork in !
but as i'm a bit of a rosti enthusiast it's no hardship at all..........

[marthe]

Roast parsnip is an autumn/winter favorite chez m. G. just places parsnip, sprouts, spuds alongside the beef/pork/lamb and roasts the whole lot together. Sweet potatoes are one of my faves also. Salad turnips (small, round, white with purple tips) are delicious raw when sliced very thin and dressed with oil and vinegar. As for leafy greens of the cabbage family, Kale is my favorite. Caldo Verde (Portuguese Kale Soup) is delicious. Roll on autumn and hearty meals.

[kernelbogey]

...Actually, cannot be asked to do rosti, all that faffing around and grating .....

Perhaps not an entirely appropriate sideways move in a thread about parsnips , but I believe the idiom is can't be arsed.
As The Free Dictionary appears to confirm. But perhaps you meant 'asked', Anna? .

[Pabmusic]

Perhaps not an entirely appropriate sideways move in a thread about parsnips , but I believe the idiom is can't be arsed.
As The Free Dictionary appears to confirm. But perhaps you meant 'asked', Anna? .

'Arsed' seems specially apt for parsnips. Oh, dear...

[Pabmusic]

Pabmusic, aha, the Philippines, so that's where Capiz is. Not very far from Papua New Guinea, where I once worked for many years. Your list of vegetables and fruits sounded very familiar.

One thing I advise not trying, if you havent already found this out for yourself, is home-made pineapple wine. I had a garden full of pineapples and got periodic gluts of fruit. You cannot give them away, because they are seasonal and when you've got a glut, everyone else has too. Fond as I am of fresh pineapple there's a limit to how many I can scoff, so I decided to have a go at turning the surplus into wine. You know how under that delicious fresh taste there is a slight turpentine flavour? In the finished product all the freshness has disappeared and you are left with an alcoholic flagon of turpentine. It is a most revolting tasting concoction, even my Papua New Guinean houseboy wouldnt drink it.

We had San Miguel beer, brewed in PNG under licence, and also South Pacific lager: one in green bottles, favoured by the expats, and another in brown bottles, favoured by the New Guineans. As far as I could tell they were exactly the same, but most expats were insistent on 'greenies'.

Thanks for the tip. One to avoid.

[salymap]

Sorry to mention WW2 but we children had many years without bananas, as well as many other imported foods.
I half remember a desert made from cooked sieved parsnip, flavoured with Golden Syrup and served with custard or rice pudding. It seemed okay if one was hungry

It was called 'mock banana'.

[MickyD]

... indeed -

"Au Moyen Âge, le panais est considéré comme un aliment de base par le peuple. Quant à la classe bourgeoise et à la noblesse, elles l'évitent, comme tous les légumes d'ailleurs, réputés mauvais pour la santé. En Europe, le panais sera consommé surtout en Angleterre et dans les autres pays du nord-est. Les Français le dédaignaient. Aujourd'hui, il retrouve une certaine popularité chez les amateurs de légumes anciens, de même que dans la population en général. Il est synonyme d'aliment santé."

The parsnip was not to be seen in the markets of Provence some 20 years ago, but I am happy to report that it is now regularly available on my market stalls. When I pounced on the first batch I saw, the stall holder was keen to know what on earth I do with them...I duly told him! It would seem that the French here have obviously embraced them, owing to their regular appearance.