What to do with the parsnips once they have done their job with the couch grass?
well, pigs cattle and horses all enjoy parsnips, so a local farmer might have them, even dig them up for you if you give them away . Is there a riding school nearby?
and of course you can eat them and make drinks from them:
RECIPES
To prepare Parsnip Soup, scrape and cut Up 2 large Parsnips or 4 small ones, and wash them carefully. Peel 6 large potatoes and boil them with the Parsnips in a quart of water. When soft, mash and pass through a sieve. Boil up again in the water and pour on to slices of bread in the tureen, adding 2 OZ. of butter. The addition of a little cream, in more favourable times, of course makes the soup more savoury.
---Stewed Parsnips----
Wash, peel and cut 3 Parsnips into slices, then boil them till they are nearly done, drain them and let them cool. Melt 2 or 3 OZ. bacon fat in a stewpan; when hot, fry the Parsnips to a light brown colour. Next add a tablespoonful of flour and moisten with sufficient brown stock just to cover the Parsnips. Season with salt and pepper, and 1 or 2 tablespoonsful of tomato sauce. Bring to the boil and let the Parsnips simmer slowly for another 20 minutes. Dish up and serve with the prepared sauce.
---Parsnip Cakes---
Parsnips mashed with a little butter and pepper and salt, and then dipped into flour and formed into small, round cakes, are nice if fried in lard, dripping or bacon fat.
---Parsnip Salad---
Plainly-boiled Parsnips, when cold, make an excellent salad. Slice the Parsnips, not too thinly, and season with salt and pepper, and mix with a simple French oil and vinegar salad dressing.
---Parsnip Wine---
Take 15 lb. of sliced Parsnips, and boil until quite soft in 5 gallons of water; squeeze the liquor well out of them, run it through a sieve and add 3 lb. of coarse lump sugar to every gallon of liquor. Boil the whole for 3/4 hour. When it is nearly cold, add a little yeast on toast. Let it remain in a tub for 10 days, stirring it from the bottom every day; then put it into a cask for a year. As it works over, fill it up every day.
Parsnip Risotto with Parsnip Crisps
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 small parsnips
1 tbsp butter plus 1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 glass white wine
500 ml chicken stock
1/2 cup risotto rice (arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano)
1/2 tsp thyme
2-3 tbsp grated parmesan
Finely slice half of one of the parsnips, and finely dice the rest. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan or saute pan and soften the onions. Once the onions have started to go translucent, add the diced parsnips and cook together with the onions until their almost browning. Stir in the rice, and fry for 2-3 minutes to toast the rice. Add the white wine and stir until it's all absorbed, then start to add the chicken stock a little at a time. Stir between additions, and start to taste the rice after about 10-15 minutes. When the grains only have a little hardness left, add the chopped thyme, then keep adding stock and stirring until the grains yield all the way through. In between the stirring, heat a small frying pan and add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (not the good stuff). Add the sliced parsnip and fry until they are brown and crisp. Remove to a plate lined with kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil, and sprinkle with a little salt.
Once the risotto is done, take the pan off the heat and let stand while you slice off another piece of cold butter and grate the parmesan. Stir these in then serve, with a little extra grated parmesan, the parsnip crisps and a little more thyme on top.
Hundreds of other recipes too..................
Or you could put them in a crate outside the gate with a notice that they are free to anyone who wants them, or for a donation, and I bet there are lots more things you can do with them, plus the tops can go on the compost.
Only trying to be helpful!