Cabbage Parsnip Slaw

Many gardeners in these cold climates overwinter their parsnips in the ground, letting the back-and-forth thawing-and-cooling spring weather sweeten their starches into sugars.  So when little else is local in early April of the upper Midwest…parsnips can be found.

Related and similar to carrots (they look like an albino carrot), they’re often cooked into soups, boiled and mashed with potatoes, or roasted in the oven with other vegetables.  They do well in kimchi and can be added to your favorite juicing mix—especially with ginger, spinach and fruits.  Nutrition-wise they pack quite a suitcase: folate, potassium, calcium, fiber, manganese, B vitamins, vitamin C, and numerous anti-oxidants.  In Europe parsnips were used as an inexpensive sweetener in jams and cakes.

Is this a salad or a cooked vegetable?  A little of both.  I wasn’t sure how starchy the raw parsnip would be so these are only faintly cooked, adding just a hint of heat then letting it rest.  The longer it sat the more compressed it became, like all slaws seem to do.

Tired of the winter chill that is still clinging?  Like our parsnip friends in the ground, may we all let ourselves sweeten up a little with this frosty-then-balmy-then-frosty-again roller coaster that is April.  

Cabbage Parsnip Slaw 

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

In a large sauté pan heat:

4 Tablespoons Oil

Add:

1 Tablespoon Mustard Seeds

1/2 – 1 Jalapeño Pepper, seeded and minced (depending on the size of your pepper and your heat sensitivity)

Sauté for a few minutes.  

Stir into the pan:

1 Carrot (1 + cup), peeled and grated

1 Parsnip (1 + cup), peeled and grated

1 1/2 cups Cabbage, finely shredded

Sauté for about 30 seconds, then remove from heat.  

Continue to stir the vegetables in the hot pan so they are faintly cooked.

Fold in:

1/3 cup Pumpkin Seeds

3 Green Onions, chopped

1/2 cup Parsley, chopped

1/4 cup Mint leaves, chopped

Juice of 1/2 Lemon, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon Coriander, ground

1/2 teaspoon Curry Powder

Salt to taste—around 1/2 teaspoon

Black Pepper to taste

Optional: 1/4 cup Currants

Let everything sit for 15 minutes to meld flavors.

Taste and adjust.  

A classic Nate and Hally bowl by Allamakee Woodfired Pottery.