Star Anise In Potato Parsnip And Porcini Gratin

Our answer

Nigella's Potato, Parsnip And Porcini Gratin (from NIGELLA CHRITMAS) is a celebratory potato gratin that is enhanced by the combination of sweet parsnips and bosky porcini, which are married together with the warm, spicy flavour of star anise.

As the vegetables are cooked in a pan on the stove before being decanted to a dish, the flavour of the star anise will infuse into the liquid. The star anise is left in the mixture (the pods are large and fairly easy to spot when eating) but if you prefer you can carefully pick the pods out when the mixture is transferred to the baking or gratin dish. However we would note that the small seeds may fall out of the pods during cooking and are probably a bit too small to retrieve individually.