Parsnip Pie

Were you at all fooled by the picture of this pumpkin parsnip pie?  I was tricked when I first saw the picture in the magazine Fine Cooking, way back in December.  I'll admit, the resemblance to pumpkin pie certainly played a role in my decision to make this dessert (when I first saw it I thought, "I haven't eaten nearly enough pumpkin pie this winter").  Flavored with buttermilk, Fine Cooking 's description of it as "sweet and tangy, with a delicate mousse-like texture" also helped convince me to prepare it.

The pumpkin pie doppelganger nature of the recipe was not the only tricky part of this dish -- parsnips (which I've never cooked with before) are pretty tricky themselves.  Similar to the fact that this pie has something of a twin, parsnips look a lot like carrots, except carrots that the vampire rabbit Bunnicula has sunk his fangs into.  AND they taste something like carrots too, only with kind of a sharper flavor (sorry for my limited culinary description).  Unlike carrots, however, they have a tricky wood-like core that is a bit of a pain to remove.

It's hard to improve on pumpkin pie and, sadly, this fails in that respect.  But, if you're in the mood to mix things up (or play a mean trick on someone) and are fairly confident you'll be able to judge this dessert on its own merits (instead of comparing it to the pumpkin version, a comparison in which it will inevitably fall short) I suggest you try it.  The recipe can be found here.  Or, if you are a strict pumpkin pie loyalist, you could just try adding buttermilk to your favorite recipe to add some tangy-ness!  On second thought, I actually don't know if that would be a good idea or not, but I'll keep you updated if I try it.