Sarah's Turnip by Nigel Fletcher
This is a follow-up post for the one where I was looking for a good turnip recipe after having been given about five pounds of turnips from one of Mike's customers.
I lucked out on the first turnip recipe I tried! I've never really liked or disliked turnips because I've never had fresh turnips in anything that I can remember. But I knew I disliked rutabaga a lot from the canned stuff I was forced to eat as a child. Uck. Pah-tooey. I kinda threw turnips into the same category.
I was recently going through a lot of my cooking magazines - tearing out the recipes that held promise and tossing the rest. In this small cabin, there is no room for collecting piles of magazines. In the third magazine I went through, my January 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times, I discovered a bunch of cream-free "cream" soups. The two that caught my eye the most were the Curried Cauliflower and Sherried Kabocha with Spiced Pepitas, but on the next page, what did I see? Cream of Turnip Soup... Eureka. How how easy was it? Very.
And, how good was it? I liked it a lot, though I did make a few changes. ! I was actually surprised, with the simplicity of ingredients, but there you have it. And, here is the recipe for anyone looking for a turnip recipe that doesn't taste like dirty socks. :) At least it didn't to me.
Cream of Turnip Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds fresh baby turnips, peeled and diced
1 small onion
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup soy creamer (optional)
1/4 cup celery leaves, sliced into fine strips
Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add turnips and onion, and cook 15 minutes or until vegetables are translucent, stirring occasionally. Add bay leaves and three cups of water, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover, and cook 25 to 30 minutes, or until turnips are very tender.
Remove from heat, and remove bay leaves. Add soy creamer, if using. Use blender or food processsor to puree ingredients until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, and stir in celery leaves just before serving.
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The changes I made:
I didn't have any celery leaves on my celery, so just added celery to the turnip and onion mix and cooked with them.
I added 1/4 cup of dry, white wine while cooking the turnips, onions and celery.
I used a large onion instead of small one.
I used veggie broth instead of water.
I added two large heads of garlic.
It tasted better the second day. And, when I ate it, I sprinkled a little cheese into it. And the next day when Mike came home, he was toting a bag of Frito Corn Chips - not an item on my normal eating list by any means, but I crunched some on top of the soup for texture and it was even better. I'm not a proponent of junk food as any of my regular readers know, but hey - it was a fun change of pace. Next time I think I'll try the crunch of something better... like pumpkin seeds.
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