Parsnip & Turnip Purée

On holiday last week we had dinner at a french restaurant in Bury St Edmunds - La Maison Bleue. The food was very good, particularly the side dish they served with the mains. The waiter set a steaming bowl before us and explained, in his very french way, zat zis was a purée of ze parsneep and ze turneep for us to share. And it was amazing - gloriously light, rich, creamy, buttery and delicately spiced with cumin. Eet waz true love for me on ze first mouth-ful.

Couldn't resist making it at home Sunday night to go with our lovely pork. It could not be simpler or more fabulous.

Parsnip & Turnip Purée

This will make enough for six servings so we had the leftovers in lunchboxes and it was as good cold as it was hot.

2 medium parsnips, peeled and diced
1 turnip, about the same weight as the parsnip, peeled and diced
50g butter
Scant teaspoon of cumin
150ml cream

Boil the diced parsnips and turnips separately in salted water till tender. I started early and did them one after the other to save washing up! Drain.

Melt the butter over a low heat in the bottom of the pan and add the cumin. Cook gently for a couple of minutes till the butter is fragrant. Add the vegetables back to pan and take it off the heat. Purée with a stick blender. Add the cream and purée again till all is light as a feather.

Serve with roasts - spiced pork for us this week, but also worked a treat with the monkfish I had at La Maison Bleue.