Turnips

We had a most delicious turnip soup tonight and I couldn't wait to share. I'm also adding the turnip recipes we made this spring and haven't posted yet. (I already posted turnip greens in June.) The root part of turnips is high in Vitamin C. The greens are a good source of Vitamin A, folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, calcium, and lutein.

Tonight's soup recipe was from my trusty Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. I have liked every single thing I've made from this cookbook, which is also an excellent reference for every type of veggie and grain and bean you can think of.


Turnip Soup with Gruyere Croutons

• 4-6 medium turnips, 1 1/2 to 2 lbs, with their greens if available (we did have the greens)
• 3 small boiling potatoes
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 c. chopped parsley
• 4 thyme sprigs or 1/4 tsp. dried
• Salt and freshly milled white pepper
• 6 cups water or vegetable stock (I used chicken broth)
• 1/2 c. cream or milk
• Cheese Croutons, made with Gruyere cheese (recipe below)

Peel the turnips and potatoes, quarter, and thinly slice them. Discard stems and any yellowed leaves from the greens. Wash the remaining leaves well.

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the turnips, potatoes, leeks, garlic, parsley, and thyme. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add 1 1/2 tsp salt and the water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Puree all or just part of the soup, depending on whether you like a smooth soup or one with some texture. Stir in the cream.

While the soup is cooking, chop the greens into small pieces. There should be about 2 cups, although more is fine. Simmer them in salted water until they're tender, then drain and add them to the finished soup. Taste for salt, season with pepper, and serve with two cheese croutons in each bowl or on the side.

Cheese Croutons (they were so good we made a second batch with the remaining part of the bread!)
Mix 1/2 cup grated blue cheese, Parmesan, or a good Cheddar (or Gruyere as above) with 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon soft butter, and a little freshly milled pepper. Toast 12 baguette slices, 2 for each person (or 12 for each person....like we had...). Mound a little of the topping on each, then broil until the cheese begins to bubble and melt.

I liked this soup better than any other turnip dish I've made this year. Either the turnip flavor is growing on me, or the soup has enough other flavors to mask the turnip flavor a bit. Anyway, here are the other things I've made, in case you like turnips better than I do.


Early Spring Turnips Tedesco

(by Angela Tedesco, from the Turtle Farm website)

Early spring turnips, about 6-8	1-2 green garlic, chopped
1-2 T. olive oil	Salt and pepper to taste

Clean turnips; remove and save greens. Julienne the turnips. Coarsely chop the greens. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Sauté chopped green garlic. Add turnips before garlic browns. Stir fry for a few minutes. Add chopped greens and stir fry a minute or two longer. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

(Maybe this would have been better if I had boiled the greens in salted water first? This takes out some of the bitterness.)

Irish Lamb Stew (Matthew's favorite)

• 3/4 lb. thickly sliced bacon, diced
• 1-3 lbs. boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2" pieces
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 c. flour
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lg. onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. water
• 4 c. beef stock
• 2 tsp. white sugar
• 4 c. diced carrots
• 1 lg. onion, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
  
• 3 turnips, cut into bite-sized pieces
  
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 c. white wine

Cook bacon, drain, crumble and set aside. Put lamb, salt, pepper and flour in large mixing bowl. Toss to coat evenly. Brown meat in pan with bacon fat. Place meat into stock pot (leave 1/4 c. fat in frying pan). Add garlic and yellow onion to bacon fat and saute until onion begins to become golden. Deglaze frying pan with 1/2 c water and add the garlic/onion mixture to the stock pot with the bacon pieces, beef stock and sugar. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours.

Add carrots, onions, potatoes, turnips, thyme, bay leaves, and wine to pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes or until veggies are tender.

We served this with whole wheat bread from the bread machine. Here's my favorite recipe for that:
Add in order recommended by your bread machine manufacturer:

1 1/3 c. water
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. honey, molasses or maple syrup
3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. dried milk
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast or 1 packet active dry yeast