Root vegetable boulangère

A lovely, comforting dish, this was traditionally made just with potatoes and cooked in the baker's oven. Our version uses parsnips and carrots instead of all potatoes to keep the calorie count down and give extra flavour.

Root vegetable boulangère

Photographer: Andrew Hayes-Watkins

Info

Serves
4 to 6
Prep time
10 minutes
Cooking time
about 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 1 large or 2 small parsnips, peeled (about 300g peeled weight)
  • 2 large carrots, peeled (about 250g peeled weight)
  • 2 large potatoes, King Edwards are good (about 400g peeled weight)
  • oil, for spraying
  • 1 tsp dried sage
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 600ml vegetable or chicken stock
  • flaked sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6.

  2. Prepare the vegetables. If the parsnips are fat enough, cut them into rounds, otherwise slice into lengths, as thinly as possible. The carrots should also be sliced thinly, but on the diagonal. Finally, cut the potatoes into slightly thicker slices – about 2–3mm.

  3. Spray a baking dish lightly with oil. Arrange the parsnips over the base – you should have enough for at least 2 layers, perhaps 3 if you have managed to slice them very thinly. Follow with half the sage and garlic, then season lightly with salt and pepper.

  4. Add a layer of carrots, then repeat the sage, garlic and seasoning. Finally, top with the potatoes.

    Make up the stock with boiling water, or heat gently if using fresh stock, and pour this over the vegetables. Cover the baking dish with a single layer of foil and bake in the preheated oven for half an hour. Uncover the baking dish and cook for another half an hour or until the vegetables are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated.