Battling the Turnip

I just grabbed my third box from my CSA and I realized that I never reported about my battle with the massive turnip. This was my first experience with eating and cooking a turnip. Since it was so big I actually was able to use it in two different recipes. The first time, I chopped it and added it to the potatoes with Jamie Oliver’s Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Chicken recipe. . The chicken was divine and the potatoes were roasted perfectly but the turnip was lacking. It just didn’t have much flavor and it had an odd texture.

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The second time we tried it, I followed the advice of the CSA and mashed it like mashed potatoes. My personal cooking rule is to add bacon whenever you have doubts about a recipe. I added bacon, cheese, and chives along with the mashed turnips. Initially, it was creamy and it had a nice root vegetable flavor. However, certain bites had an odd fibrous texture that made it difficult to finish. I talked to a coworker who had experience with cooking turnips and he thought it might have been due to the massive size and maturity. I know other people have tried similar methods and enjoyed it so I think I’ll have to try it again and report back.


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4 responses to “Battling the Turnip”

  1. Karen Avatar

    Hey, I remember seeing your photo of that one, it was a behemoth! I think no root veggie would taste good at that size, it’s bound to be mealy. Good for you for being creative and trying, though! I think there are some foods that are really only eaten when nothing else is available – for me, a turnip would definitely qualify. 🙂

  2. Hanna Avatar
    Hanna

    If you have some that size, you could try putting them through a ricer instead. The unsoft bits will not make it out of the ricer. I saw some famous cook use the same method so they didn’t have to peel their potatos first. They just sliced them in half and the peels stayed in the ricer.

  3. nkristis Avatar

    Karen: Thanks, I think I might have to agree with you.

    Hanna: That’s a great idea, I bet that would have made a big difference. Thanks for sharing.

  4. heather Avatar
    heather

    OK once we read the adding bacon rule of thumb Mark and I were rolling….sicne that is so TRUE! We use that same rule. Before I finished reading past the bacon part Mark had chimed in …”and cheese!” and the next line said you did add cheese. Not a big turnip fan myself so I had no ideas for you!
    The CSA box sounds like a cool idea

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