Originally posted by Jess – January 19, 2015
I grew up with an aversion to turnips. I remember them as being giant and bitter and mealy and rather tasteless, and hence was never a fan. Since being involved with CSAs, I have changed my perspective on many veggies, and turnips are right up at the top of that list. It was really my oldest son, Ben, that helped me to see the light of this wonderful veggie. As soon as Ben sprouted teeth, he was picking Hakurei turnips from our CSA shareboxes and munching on them raw like an apple. The first time I saw him do it, I remember thinking “Really? What do you have there, son?” I took my first bite and realized he was onto something. These locally grown turnips were not the abominations I recalled from my childhood, but rather reminiscent of everything I loved about carrots- sweet, crunchy, light, and fresh. I put aside a couple for Ben and would save the rest to shred or slice into salads.
The variety we got in our most recent sharebox are the “Baby Purple Top White Globes”. Though larger than their Hakurei cousin, they remain sweet, free from bitterness, and could not be farther from the mealy monsters I grew up with.
On Saturday night, I chopped one up into french fry sticks and tossed them with olive oil before separating into three separate piles on a sprayed cookie sheet. I seasoned one with maple sugar sprinkles, one with garam masala, an one with a home made Mexican seasoning. I cooked them at 400 until they were tender, about 20 minutes. The first two of these flavor combinations were the favorites, but I feel like this one is still on the drawing board at the moment.
After eating these turnips, both raw and in oven fried form, I had an idea about making a souffle involving the turnips, and got to work creating. My mother devoured all 3 of my test recipes and I was psyched! A quick Google search made me realize that a lot of variations of Turnip Soufflé already exist (to include bacon, onion, etc). However, I just went with my idea and am sticking to it. The flavor of these sweet turnips is really featured in this dish (in a very good way), and short of a tiny dash of nutmeg, I wouldn’t want to mess with the flavor too much more.
Dinner is served!