Cook and Drink

Tuberous chervil, also known as turnip chervil and bulbous chervil, is a forgotten vegetable. It was popular throughout continental Europe in the 19^th century, but today it’s hard to find. Tuberous chervil is very tasty and easy to prepare. Its flavour will make you think of chestnuts, without a hint of bitterness. The ‘chervil’ in the name does not mean it’s the tuber of the chervil plant (like parsley and parsley root are related). It’s included because the leaves of tuberous chervil look like the leaves of chervil. The two are not related.
As more often, the tubers were replaced by potatoes: cheaper, easier to handle and easier to grow.

Earlier we made a purée with tubers, cream, butter and nutmeg. Combine it with lamb chops and you have a very tasty meal.

This colourful, flavourful and aromatic oven dish goes very well with pork and chicken.

What You Need

• 5 Tuberous Chervil
• 1 Parsnip
• 1 Shallot
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 1/2 teaspoon of Cumin
• 3 Pruneaux d’Agen
• Handful of Chick Peas, drained and washed
• Chicken Stock

What You Do

1. Preheat your oven to 180 °C or 355 °F
2. Chop the shallot
3. Chop the garlic
4. Chop the pruneaux
5. Wash and peel the parsnip and the carrot
6. If the tuberous chervils are young and fresh, you don’t need to peel them. The ones we bought were a bit older, so we peeled them
7. Quartered tuberous chervils
8. Slice the carrot
9. Dice the parsnip
10. Gently fry the shallot
11. Add garlic
12. Add cumin
13. Transfer to a shallow dish
14. Add tuberous chervils, parsnip, pruneaux, carrot and chickpeas
15. Mix
16. Add stock
17. Cover the oven dish with aluminium foil
18. Transfer to the oven for 30 minutes
19. Flip the vegetables after 15 minutes
20. Remove foil
21. Leave in the oven for another 15 minutes
22. Serve warm