Ok…everyone here HATES turnips but we have three from our fall CSA. I’m looking for a good recipe that turnip haters might like.
Also, we have a veggie and the greens look like dill weed, but the bottom is a sort of bulb like thing. What is it (I guess I should take a picture).
Sounds like fennel.
Turnips are fantastic roasted with other root veggies - potatoes, parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes. Just dice them the same size as the other root veggies and roast for an hour at 375 with evoo, rosemary, salt and pepper.
They also are good pureed in soup with the above mentioned root veggies.
It’s fennel! What can I use that for!
Sorry, but everytime I’ve roasted turnips, everyone in this family picks them out, and they get thrown away in the end. So that’s not a choice. Or putting them in any kind of soup…unless someone has a recipe that totally hides the taste of the turnip.
Fennel is great sliced in to salads but I also like it with scallops.
In salads sounds good. Sadly, I’m allergic to scallops…
I think I put fennel in some pasta sauce…could that be right?
Here’s a good one for fennel:
Fennel seed is in a lot of Italian sausage so it would make sense you could add fresh fennel to a pasta sauce.
Some sauce recipes call for fennel seeds - you have fresh fennel - it’s delicious, if a bit licorice-y.
I’ve found a couple of recipes for roasted sweet potatoes and turnips…which sound decent…maybe. And we also have a surplus of sweet potatoes!
I think it depends what kind of turnip you have, as to what you can do with it. Can you post a picture?
In the meantime here’s a recipe:
It’s about the size of a softball…very light lavender with a little purple.
I love fennel. The Italian tradition is to eat it raw at the end of dinner to help with digestion. Cut off the top - just leaving the bulb part. Wash well, quarter it, and take off any brown outer pieces. Then eat the “leaves”.
A chef friend of mine substitutes turnips for anything that’s heavy potato- fewer calories and a lighter texture. So mashed potatoes- use 1 turnip for every four potatoes-- they will be light and airy and assuming you use your usual seasoning, nobody can taste the turnip. Add a little more garlic to the mashed potatoes (or use very fresh Italian parsley) and nobody will know.
I have a few fennel salad recipes. Slice the fennel really thin, it works well with arugula or any bitter/strong lettuce. Slice a few ripe pears. Garnish with toasted cashews, craisins, and a very lemony dressing made with fresh lemon juice and a good olive oil. You can google “salads with fresh fennel” to get a few other ideas. But because fresh fennel has its own strong flavor, all you need is lemon, salt and olive oil for a dressing. Quick and refreshing salad with a heavy meal.
I also serve it roasted-- cut the bulbs into quarters, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper on a cookie sheet. When it browns a little it will carmelize-- such a great garnish/side for a simple baked or broiled fish.
Lucky you!
Some people put fennel in their stuffing/dressing for thanksgiving
You might be able to sell it for big bucks on your local neighborhood group…a couple of holidays I have had a hard time finding fennel and leeks!!!
Aah, the perpetual seasonal leek shortage! Nobody knows why. And I don’t think they are hard to grow…
I love both turnip and fennel!
My fav fennel recipe:
My fav turnip recipe:
I actually really like turnips!
Keep the ideas coming. Some of these sound really good!
I might just have to try the mashed turnips posted up thread…maybe with the right seasonings, the turnips will be ok!
My mom would always fix carrots and turnips - mashed together with a lot of butter - for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and winter Sunday dinners. It was common when she was growing up in England.