Cheese-Crusted Fried Parsnip Strips With Romesco Sauce

Another one for safe-keeping! Again by Simon Hopkinson, Sainsbury's magazine Nov '09. You can make the romesco sauce a few days ahead; chill. It can also be frozen. Yield is a guesstimate.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 2
• Yields: 3-4 batches

Ingredients

• 350  g parsnips, peeled
• 40  g  white breadcrumbs made from semi-stale  bread
• 75  g parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1  large egg, beaten
•  flour, for coating
•  oil (for frying, a neutral-flavoured oil, such as sunflower or groundnut)

• For the romesco sauce

• 40  g  blanched almonds
• 4  tablespoons olive oil
• 1  large garlic clove, chopped
• 1  small  dried chili
• 75  g  semi-dried tomatoes from a  jars, drained
• 75  g  piquillo peppers from a  jars, drained
• 1  tablespoon sherry wine vinegar

Directions

1. For the romesco sauce, gently fry the almonds in 1 teaspoon of the olive oil until golden. Allow them to cool, then tip them into a food processor and add the garlic, chilli, tomatoes, peppers, vinegar and the rest of the oil and 1 tablespoon of hot water. Grind to a nubbly puree and then add salt to taste. Adjust the quantity of vinegar if you want a sharper flavour.
2. Cut the parsnips into finger lengths, and steam until tender, then set aside to cool on a plate. Mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese, cayenne and some salt in a shallow dish. Have the beaten egg ready in a similar dish, and the flour in another one. To coat the parsnips, first dip the strips in flour, then in the egg and, finally, turn them through the breadcrumb and cheese mixture.
3. To fry the parsnip strips, either use a deep-fat fryer or a deep frying pan containing a 2cm depth of oil. Heat the oil to 170C in the deep-fat fryer or, if using the frying pan method, until a small cube of bread turns golden in a minute or so. Fry the parsnips in the hot oil, in batches, for 2-3 minutes until crisp and golden, then briefly drain on kitchen paper. Serve at once, with the romesco sauce alongside.