Roast Parsnips

Directions

1. 1
   Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. 2
   Peel your parsnips, cut them into fat lumps, and steam them for ten minutes in a colander over a pan of boiling water.
3. 3
   Warm a couple of heaping spoonfuls of fat in a roasting pan in the oven, then add the steamed parsnips.
4. 4
   Roast for forty-five minutes or so, until their insides are soft and creamy, their exterior gold, brown, and, here and there, almost black.
5. 5
   An occasional turn in the pan is a good thing, but too much meddling will prevent them achieving the ultimate sticky crust (the same goes for sausages, which I mention only because the two make a lovely pair).
6. 6
   Inevitably the parsnips will have one sidethat which lies underneathdarker and chewier than the others.
7. 7
   It is part of the pleasure.