Parsnip Pies

 

Original Source:

Le Menagier de Paris (1393)

Chervis. The earliest appearing from the ground and freshly pulled, harvested in January, February, etc., are the best; and the freshest are known by the fact that they break off, and the old ones when pulled from the ground bend. You must clean them and removed the bad parts as with turnips, then you must wash them thoroughly in warm water, then parboil a little, the put them to dry on a towel. Then flour them, then fry then arrange nicely on little plates and put sugar on them.

Item, if you wish to make pies with them, you must prepare them as above up to the frying, and then put them in pastry, breaking the longest in two pieces, and instead of the sugar mentioned above, you should put figs chopped small and grapes.

 

My Redaction:
Allergens: Gluten, wheat (if using Gluten pastry)

2                            Parsnips, extra large
¼ Cup                   Dried Figs, finely chopped
¼ Cup                   Raisins
½ tsp                     Fine Spice Powder
10 Sheets              Puff Pastry

Preheat oven to 180*C.

Peel parsnips and remove the woody core. Dice and place into a pot of boiling water and cook until tender. Drain and let the parsnips cool and dry slightly. Place on to a paper towel if you would like to help remove moisture.

Once the parsnips are dried/less moist, add the diced figs, raisins and the fine powder. Mix until the fine powder is evenly coating the mixture.

Using pastry cutting rings (or egg rings if you don’t have) cut a base and top for each pastry and place into a greased mini muffin/cupcake tray. Fill with mixture and top with the cut pastry, pressing tops and sides together.

Place into preheated oven and cook pastries until golden. Remove and serve warm. 10 sheets of puff pastry made around 50 mini pies.  

Changes Made:

These were made for a finger food service for Bal D’Argent, one of Lochac’s social dance events for the year. The dish can be made to be one large pie, but these worked as small individual pies.

I was asked to make a Gluten free, dairy free, allium free, vegetarian something. And since we also had a vegan, I was also trying to accommodate them. I used two types of Gluten Free puff pastry, one I was able to source from Woolworths, but is slightly smaller than regular puff pastry, the other thanks to a friend who is gluten free, i was pointed into the direction of one of the local IGA supermarkets which stocked the pastry in the picture. This pastry is free from: Wheat, Dairy, Soy Allergens, Yeast, Egg & Nuts, Fructose friendly and vegan friendly.

When cooked, the puff pastry from Woolworths actually puffs up really nicely. The pastry that is vegan friendly is flakier (which I can see in the first picture – the pies marked with a circle are the vegan pastry).

I used dried figs as they are out of season currently, but I don’t think this made too much of a difference to the recipe.

These can be served cold, but after two people tried, it was recommended to serve warm (and its winter and cold, some something warming would be nice). These were made ahead and then reheated under the grill (turned off) as the oven was being used for another dish.

 

Suppliers (not sponsored, but here for me to find later):

Harris Farm: Parsnips from the Imperfect Picks vegetables section gave some MASSIVE parsnips for like $7/kg.

Woolworths:
Angas Park Soft n’ Juice Figs 250g https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/229894/angas-park-soft-n-juicy-figs-soft-n-juicy
Simply Wize Gluten Free Puff Pastry Sheets: https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/763094/simply-wize-pastry-puff-gluten-free
Woolworths Raisins 375g https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/726364/woolworths-raisins

Gluten Free Bakery (IGA Sometimes):
https://www.glutenfreebakery.net/products/puff-pastry/savoury-puff-pastry/
This company also has a sweet puff pastry, that after talking to the supplier, the sweet puff pastry is more like a shortcrust pastry so can be used for recipes that require a short crust pastry.

Fine Spice Powder: See recipe page on Spice Powder mixes on my blog. This mix was ground ginger, sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground grains of paradise.