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Lancashire cheese has a lovely mild flavour and a good salty, savoury edge which goes well with the sweet flavour of the parsnips and thyme. It comes in two varieties, creamy or crumbly - crumbly works best in this recipe. You could replace it with grated mild cheddar if you prefer.

Ingredients
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
750g parsnips, peeled and trimmed
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
150g Lancashire cheese, crumbled
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
250ml hot vegetable stock

Method
1 Preheat the oven to 220oC (Fan 200oc) Gas Mark 7. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onions and saute over a medium heat for 5 mins or until golden. Season, then reduce the heat and cook over a low heat for a further 5 mins until they are really tender and caramellised.

2 Whilst the onions cook, diagonally slice the parsnips to a thickness of a one pound coin. Lightly oil a 1.4 (21/2pt) ovenproof dish.

3 Scatter half the onions over the base of the dish and top with half the parsnips, half the thyme, a third of the cheese, a little nutmeg and plenty of seasoning. Top with the remaining onions and parsnips, then pour over the stock. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and season again.

4 Place the dish on a baking tray then cover and bake for 30mins. Remove the foil then bake for a further 20-25mins or until the parsnips are tender and the top nicely browned. Serve hot with roast meats or poultry.