Roast carrots and parsnips with walnut sauce
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Published: 30 Nov 04
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Updated: 18 Mar 24
This is a wonderfully earthy side dish, using root vegetables and crushed walnuts. Perfect for either Christmas or Thanksgiving.
For an indulgent alternative, try out this carrot, parsnip and mascarpone gratin.
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Serves 6
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Ready in 50 minutes
Ingredients
- 500g small carrots
- 500g small parsnips
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil
For the walnut sauce
- 1-2 slices stale white bread (sourdough is best)
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 100ml olive or walnut oil
- 100g walnut pieces
- Generous handful fresh flatleaf parsley
- 1 garlic clove
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Wash the carrots and parsnips (but don’t peel them – scrub them with a nail brush). Put them into 2 large roasting trays, so they sit in a single layer. Drizzle with the oil, sprinkle with sea salt and toss together. Roast for 40 minutes, turning them over once for even colour. The oil will be slightly infused with the carrot colour and sweetness – drizzle it over the vegetables when you serve them.
- Meanwhile, make the walnut sauce. In a large bowl, mix the bread, vinegar, about half the oil and 50ml water. As soon as the bread is soft, squash it into a loose paste. Go on, use your hands. Set aside.
- Roast the walnuts on a baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes until golden and fragrant. Remove from the oven and, while still warm, shake off as many of the skins as you can by tossing them gently in a colander – the skins will start to fall through the holes. Now either roughly crush the nuts with a pestle and mortar or rolling pin. A processor will make them too fine.
- Roughly chop the parsley and garlic and toss it with the bread, nuts and remaining oil. Season with salt and, if you like, freshly ground black pepper. Pour over the roasted carrots and parsnips and serve immediately.
Recipe from December 2004 Issue
Nutrition
Nutrition: per serving
- Calories
- 371kcals
- Fat
- 30.3g (3.7g saturated)
- Protein
- 5g
- Carbohydrates
- 20.5g (11.5g sugars)
- Salt
- 0.2g
delicious. tips
We are all familiar with roast parsnips at Christmas, but how many of us have roasted carrots? They’re fantastic to bake, especially when paired with parsnips. Despite their different characteristics when raw, both roast in about the same time. Small carrots and parsnips have a better texture for roasting; save the bigger ones for mash or soups.
The sauce, a spin on traditional bread sauce, works well with the sweetness of roast root vegetables, but also can be eaten like a dip with crudités (just don’t add all the oil). You can also toss the sauce (with half the oil) with steamed or blanched vegetables, such as carrots or sprouts and a little butter, which might be worth considering if oven space is tight at Christmas.