• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Forager Chef

Foraging and Cooking Mushrooms, Wild and Obscure Food

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Species Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Red Cinnabar
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
        • Fairy Rings
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Elderberry
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • The Wild Harvest
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Szechuan Parsnip Leaf Salad

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Parsnip leaf salad with wild Szechuan peppercorn / prickly ash dressing recipeParsnips and their relatives like carrots are loved and cherished food plants around the world for good reason: they’re relatively easy to take care of, they can be stored for long periods of time—even over winter, and most importantly, they’re delicious.

One thing no one talks about about though is that the leaves are also edible. For a long time I thought carrot leaves were basically food for rabbits and nobody else. The leaves are a little tough fresh but after reading Georgia Friedmans book Cooking South of the Clouds I couldn’t help but try her recipe for Szechuan carrot leaf salad.

Blanching: the key to cooking carrot, fennel, and parsnip greens/leaves

After a brief blanching and chopping the leaves get tender and the strong herbaceous flavor gets mild and pleasant, especially after being doused with a touch of aggressive dressing made from soy sauce a touch of vinegar or lime juice garlic hot sauce and Szechuan peppercorns (of course I had to use some my local Xanthoxylum / prickly ash berries / wild Szechuan peppercorn stash). After that I never thought of carrot leaves in the same way. When parsnips season came around the next year I had to try the same preparation with parsnip leaves, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s just as good, if not better than the carrot version.

The rash: be mindful handling raw parsnip greens

The only real difference that is worth mentioning, and that definitely needs to be mentioned, is that you need to be mindful of handling wild or garden parsnip greens fresh. Parsnips and many of their relatives like cow parsnip and other plants in the genus Heracleum (e.g. giant hogweed) have compounds in the juices of their leafy green plant parts that can cause photo dermatitis, the famous “wild parsnip rash” when the sap of the green leafy parts hits sweaty skin and is exposed to the sun. To be clear, both wild and garden parsnip greens can have this effect.

Now, I’ve had the parsnip rash a number of different times, the worst case being a full face palm on my face before I shot a video, and I can tell you, it’s unsightly, although mine were never painful. Even so, to this day I still don’t feel the need to use gloves while handling the plant, but I am very mindful not to touch my face or other parts of exposed skin while I’m harvesting or working with any leafy green parts.

Wild Parsnip Leaves Pastinaca sativa

Wild parsnip leaves.

If it’s your first time working with the greens, you may want to wear gloves as a precaution, outside as well as in the kitchen, until after the plant is cooked. Don’t let that scare you though, these are a great, widely available leafy green to cook, and I wouldn’t be sharing them if I didn’t think it was totally approachable to the average person, as well as good to eat.

The flavor of the parsnip leaves themselves is worth mentioning a bit too. Carrot leaves have a slightly grassy, carroty taste to them. Parsnips have a more pronounced, herbal flavor, but, unlike their cousins in the Heracleum genus, the flavor is much more subtle, and after dressing, you might be tempted to say they’re parsley, or something similar. By comparison, cooked cow parsnip leaves prepared the same way might be a little strong tasting for some people. After mixing with a bit of the dressing though and especially a drizzle of delicious roasted sesame oil, the flavor melts into the background and it’s barely noticeable.

If you haven’t tried them, and you have some parsnips leaves available, do you self a favor and give it a try, and if you don’t have the ingredients to make a variation of the Szechuan dressing outline below give it a shot with just lemon juice and some good olive oil and salt– I can pretty much guarantee you’ll think twice about throwing them in the compost next time you harvest wild or garden nips.

Parsnip leaf salad with wild Szechuan peppercorn / prickly ash dressing recipe

Parsnip leaf salad with wild Szechuan peppercorn / prickly ash dressing recipe
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Szechuan Wild Parsnip Leaf Salad

A Szechuan-inspired salad of cooked wild parsnip leaves
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time2 mins
Course: Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Szechuan Peppercorns, Wild Parsnip
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 lb parsnip greens carrot or fennel greens can be substituted
  • 1 small carrot grated, to garnish
  • Toasted sesame seeds to garnish, optional
  • Dressing
  • Ingredients
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • ¼ teaspoon grated garlic
  • ¼ teaspoon grated ginger
  • 2 teaspoons sriracha or your favorite hot chili sauce
  • ½ Tablespoon fish sauce
  • Toasted sesame oil to taste
  • 1 teaspoon ground dried Szechuan peppercorns

Instructions

  • Mix the ingredients for the dressing except the sesame oil.
  • Blanch the parsnip leaves in lightly salted water until just tender, about 1.5 minutes, then drain and refresh in cold water. Squeeze the cooled parsnip leaves dry, then lay them out, and cut into roughly ½ inch pieces.
  • Toss in a bowl with the grated carrot just as a garnish—you don’t need a lot.
  • Toss the greens with the dressing to taste (you probably won't need it all) then the oil, double check the seasoning and adjust as needed, then serve.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit

Related

Previous Post: « Ramp Leaf Pasta Dough(s)
Next Post: Roman Nettle Patina (Frittata) »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Categories

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Instagram

foragerchef

Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun var Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun variation I did on the house dessert of a little restaurant I was at for a time. 

Don’t be surprised if you smell like maple syrup a few hours after eating it. Using ground dried golden chanterelles is another variation that’s on my list to try. 

Link in bio to see how to make your own. 

#candycaps #treslechescake #myteethfellout #wildmushrooms #wildfoodlove
ARISE #fungimancer #frostbite #morels #tisthes ARISE 

 #fungimancer 
#frostbite #morels #tistheseason #mushroomhunting #winter #offseasontraining
Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your suppo Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your support with the first line of spirits @ida_graves_distillery and I collaborated on. 

Brock did a great job wrangling the wild things, and we have plenty of fun ideas in store (think aging nocino in barrels, new flavor combos, etc). If you’re in the Twin Cities and still need some, the amaro is #soldout but @ombibulousmn has nocino, and should have the spruce  liquor (goes down like pine gin) soon. Thank you!

#distillery #foragedcocktails #nocino #craftspirits #drinkatree #mnspirits #smallbatch #godscountry
Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too s Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too specific a term for me—I don’t limit myself to vehicular-harvested meat. 

However you feel about the topic, grab some popcorn and head over to the comment section on my blog (link in bio) for the 🔥personal stories from readers have shared from around the world. 

There’s the kid who brought home a nutria after school, a wife getting 4 deer with the same car, a train hitting a herd of elk, a bear named squish, living in a house with weasels, and more. 

#budgetgourmet #gleaning #scavenging #meatismeat #roadkill #freefoods #finderskeepers #wastenotwantnot
Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberr Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberry cultivars (3 types!) on me before the last snowfall and I honestly don’t even know where to start after processing them. I’d already made jams and hot sauce already and I have enough for a year. 😅

Great time to practice the cold-juice which ensures the juice isn’t bitter. 

Anyone else have any ideas? 

You can still find some on the shrubs if the birds didn’t get them up by the north shore. 

#highbushcranberry #winterforaging #birdberries #sweetnectar #foragerproblems #juiceme #embarassmentofriches #wildfoodlove
100% wild candy bars. I don’t usually make raw v 100% wild candy bars. I don’t usually make raw vegan snacks, but when I read about Euell Gibbon’s wild hackberry candy bars I had to try them. The  originals were just crushed hackberries and hickory nuts, but, I’ve read that Euell grew to dislike the crunch of hackberry seeds later in life. 

Here’s the thing though, if you sift the hackberry flour, you get a fun texture, with no worries about cracking a tooth. 

These are equal parts ground hackberries, dried wild blueberries, and hickory nuts, with a splash of maple syrup to bind.

The end product is a shelf stable, nutrient-packed bite filled with protein, carbohydrates, fats and natural sugars infinitely adaptable to your local landscape.

The texture is chewy and nougat-like, and now I’m curious to see how they’d perform baked in recipes that use frangipane or almond paste. 

#euellgibbons #energybars #hackberry #crushin #paleobreakfast #tradionalfood #wildfoodlove #rawfoods
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Footer

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.