Beyond the financial savings, chefs are also beginning to realize the creative potential of these roots, which provide a perfect playing field for flavors from curry to cinnamon, and can be incorporated into soups, into side dishes, and, with very young vegetables, even into raw salads. A database search through Foodwatch, a firm that provides trend research and consulting to the restaurant industry, unearths several pages of dishes using these utilitarian roots. We find parsnip pommes Anna siding with roasted spring pig and rhubarb chutney at Hamersley Bistro in Boston and vanilla-scented carrots and turnips with roasted Maine lobster at Masa's in San Francisco. Most often, these underappreciated vegetables simply wind up on the menu under the more poetic heading of winter vegetables. But they also inherit the family tendency to be bitter unless prepared correctly.
Parsnips are actually sweet, much like carrots, and become even sweeter after winter frosts.
They were candied and used in cakes by the Greeks and Romans, but lost out in medieval Europe when that other root vegetable, the potato, was imported from America. In Terhune's potpie, the vegetables are roasted whole, then diced into the pie filling. Soothing soups in cool-weather flavor combinations, such as parsnip and pear or rutabaga and turnip, are created after the roots have been roasted. Then we can add other elements, like butter and bacon. When creating more exotic fare, Schreiber finds that any of these roots are a suitable base for stronger flavors.