What do YOU do with --- turnips?

Cafe Society
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Thought this was more IMHO than Cafe Society.

We get a weekly produce box from our local organic farming collective. They have given us all kinds of fantastic stuff, most of which I have recognized. This week, we got a lot of beautiful, relatively small turnips. **

I think they’re beautiful, and I’m fine with the flavor, but I just don’t know what to do with turnips.

Help me out, Dopers?

In exchange, I will pass along a wonderful thing I learned the other night when I had the good fortune to eat at a very frou-frou restaurant.

In addition to a pork chop for which the English language does not contain descriptive terms sufficient to convey its sublimity, I got some braised spinach leaves. They put some fresh-ground nutmeg in with the garlic & olive oil in the spinach. Wow. It was, as we punkers (used to. except me.) say, screamin’.

I tried it next night with purple kale. Screamin’.
**Except for “the monster.”

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Boy, for me, you can’t beat them raw with a little salt! But, of course, you don’t want to eat a lot!

3

I don’t do anything with them, actually. Mom used to mash them up like mashed potatoes, a little butter and salt. They taste like, well, like mashed potatoes mixed with some dirt.

So, good luck with that!

4

Boiled and mashed turnips are wonderful! Some folks don’t like the pungent flavour of turnips, so they instead mix then 50/50 with similarly prepared carrots. Either way turnips are grrrrreat!

5

Add them to soups and stews.

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Did they come with the greens attached? If so, there ya go. Add some fatback and you’re in business. Eat with a sliced purple onion, salt and pepper and salad vinegar.

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I like them raw, too. Just the right amount of crunch for me. I cut them into sticks and just munch away.

8

I roast or braise them with other root veggies. Turnip, potato, parsnip, and onion with butter, rosemary, and salt makes for some tasty times.

ETA: And don’t dare throw out the greens! They’re delicious!

9

My wife’s grandparents grow turnips, and sent us home with way more than we knew what to do with last time we visited.

I made a great lamb stew with some carrots, potatoes, and of course turnips.

They’re also pretty good in a spinach quiche. Just dice one up into little pieces.

And, of course, mashed with some butter and salt is pretty good, too.

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I eat them raw. Delicious.

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I recommend Turnip Surprise.

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I used to grow 10 hectares a year of turnips as summer feed for my cows. They would really hoover then up.

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Queen Tonya: hee hee hee! I know what you mean… it’s an acquired taste, for sure.

These particular turnips don’t have the greens, though they often give us beet greens, chard, the aforementioned purple kale, and some other kind of green that is a gorgeous glossy magenta overlaid on green. It has a bite like mustard greens - maybe they come in purple too.

I hadn’t thought of lamb! That would be a perfect balance to the, er, assertive flavor of turnips.

ShelliBean: I’m a little confused. You cut up the turnips and greens, & cook 'em with the fatback? Is the onion raw? I agree, greens, especially collards, are awesome boiled with smoked pork. Best way in the world to eat cornbread.

I would totally try them raw, but I have forcibly forsworn the crunchy for now because of tooth trouble. Maybe I can grate them?

Roasted rocks too; I’ll bet they’d be great with yams & a chicken.
Tapioca: har har!

Thanks, all!

14

I like this recipe for turnip “fries”, and so does my husband. If you soak the turnips in some buttermilk for a while before cooking, they taste a bit less bitter and the coating sticks better.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Peppery-Turnip-Fries-63909

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Put them back on the truck from whence they came. Careful, though, you don’t want to lose your balance.

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Stir-fry. Dice 'em small (1/4" cubes) and cook them with the hard veggies. Yams are also really good this way.

Soup, roasted, and boiled/mashed are the only other ways I know to cook turnips.

17

Turnips are an indispensable part of my Rosemary Roasted Root Vegetabes

I peel and cut 'em up, along with any other rooty vegetable I can get my hands on*, a frenched red onion and as many garlic cloves as I feel like peeling. Toss the whole shebang in enough olive oil to barely coat it, divide it onto two baking sheets, throw on a few fresh or dried rosemary stems, and roast at 400 for about 45 minutes, stirring them up whenever you remember (but try to do it twice.) Salt and black pepper to taste and then serve.

Or you could do it with just the turnips, some onion, garlic and rosemary. I like the beautiful colors of the assortment, though. It’s one of my daughter’s favorite dishes because it’s so pretty and because she gets to help me oil the veggies - I put them all in a gallon ziptop bag with the oil and seal it, and she gets to shake and shake until her little arms are ready to fall off.

*any or all of the following: turnips, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, burdock (gobo root), beets, rutabaga, celeriac (celery root) and, departing from the “root” theme, Brussels sprouts - cleaned and sliced in half the long way so they don’t fall apart - are faboo with this dish, too.

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If they’re boiled or steamed, you can dice them and toss them with a vinaigrette. Or use them like potatoes in almost any potato salad recipe.

They can be cooked au gratin, like potatoes, too, but you need to use more cheese. Variations on that have been around since medieval days=> armored turnips.

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WhyNot, you are now my turnip friend. Whether you like it or not. :smiley:

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:smack: D’oh! How did I miss your post, which was exactly what I wrote? Turnip friends, indeed! It’s a great dish.

Yes, I think roasting is the absolute best thing for turnips. It mellows out the slight bitterness and dehydrates them just enough to concentrate and intensify their flavor while caramelizing the sugars.