S is for salsify

I'd forgive you if you walked past a bit of salsify and didn't give it a second look, given it bears more than a passing resemblance to something brown and sticky (that'll be a stick then, for those among you who may not be fans of rubbish puns.)

Yep, when they were handing out the good looks, salsify wasn't first in the queue.

Still, when I was browsing around Borough Market recently, I couldn't help but stick a few sticks in my shopping basket. I'd never eaten it or bought it, let alone cooked with it.

Most of the recipes I found online for salsify involved fritters of some kind. I love fritters - covering something in batter and frying it can't be bad in my book - but I fancied something a bit different.

Another scan through my cookbook collection unearthed a Terre a Terre recipe for salsify goujons and parsley liquor, a mock eel dish that's a nod to Cockney cuisine. As I've mentioned before, I'm inured to Cockney food, being as my parents are old Londoners.

Most Terre a Terre recipes involve several separate parts to them and complex assembly, and this one was no exception. I cut down the original five pieces to just two, the salsify goujons and parsley.

These were a slightly more healthy take on Terre a Terre's food - there was no deep frying here, just baking, and I swapped the cream in the recipe for (soy) milk.

For reasons I'm not sure of, I was thoroughly expecting to hate the salsify, and was rather pleased to discover it was actually quite pleasant. So, maybe it's not the most flavoursome of ingredients, but it has a nice texture to it and its plainness means that it's a good canvas to stick any old spice you like on.

Something that did strike me though: this can't be an overly authentic take on the Cockney recipe: both of my parents have described eels, and the parsley liquor that goes with them, as disgusting - and this was anything but!