Potato Parsnip Gratin

As far as I know, I have never eaten parsnip.  I didn't even know what it was until I found myself looking for it in the grocery store so I could make it into baby food for my daughter.  What a surprise to discover that it was basically a white carrot.  When I was steaming it, it smelled so delicious and sort of familiar, but I couldn't figure out how or why.  Well my daughter seemed to enjoy it so I thought I'd try and make it in a dish for me and the hubby.

Tonight's dinner consisted of chicken fatina (sp?) which are breaded chicken cutlets (yum!) and a parsnip take on one of our favourite dishes - scalloped potatoes.  Now I did not make up this recipe. I saw a gratin on Pinterest and through my google searches I found a bunch of other gratin recipes - always made with potatoes and parsnip or potatoes, parsnip and turnip (another veggie I have never tried!).  So I picked a recipe that seemed to have good reviews, gave it a read through and decided that it was basically a scalloped potato recipe with a few modifications.  You can find the original recipe here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Parsnip-Potato-Gratin but as usual I did not follow it.  I basically used my scalloped potato recipe and added what was different.  I think this recipe would be healthier because it is using 1% milk instead of whole or whipping cream.

Ingredients:

4 small-medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 large parsnip, peeled and thinly sliced

1 small-medium onion, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, grated (I mixed in a little mozzarella)

1/4 cup flour

3-4 tbsp butter

salt and pepper

1 cup milk (approximately)

Grease your dish (I used a corning ware 2.5qt  

 oval casserole dish) and start layering.  Start with potatoes and scatter some pieces of onion all over; season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with flour; dot with butter. Do the exact same thing with a layer of parsnip and then sprinkle some cheese over it (you will use about half of your cheese for the layers - save the other half).  Continue doing this with a potato layer and parsnip layer until you run out of ingredients (or reach the top of the dish!). Ideally you'd like to end with a potato layer, but I actually ended with a layer of potato/parsnip alternating.  Overall I did two layers each of potato and parsnip, and my fifth layer was the combo. For the top layer - do not sprinkle flour or butter, but you can season with salt and pepper if you'd like.  Pour your milk over the top till it comes about halfway up the dish. Top off the dish with the remaining cheese and cover.  Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 35 minutes.  Remove the lid, increase the heat to 400 and bake for another 25 minutes.  Enjoy!

Now someone who has eaten parsnip before and knows what it should taste like in dishes will need to comment to let everyone know if this recipe really is any good.  I wouldn't say it was bad, but for me and my husband, we didn't really care for the dish.  We both found that the parsnip was very overpowering, and it is a flavour neither one of us grew up with so we didn't really enjoy it all that much.  We would both prefer my scalloped potatoes all on their own so I doubt I'll be making this recipe again.

The fatina on the other hand - yum! I could eat those all day every day.  I simply took some chicken breasts that had already been sliced horizontally and then pounded to make them into thin cutlets (thanks Nonna!), dipped them into beaten eggs and then dipped them into Italian bread crumbs so they were covered.  Heat your pan over medium heat with some vegetable oil (add a splash of olive oil and tablespoon of butter - my mom's tip) and fry away. So fast and easy and of course - so delicious!