We've been invited to my DIL's sister's new home in Delaware for Thanksgiving dinner. Hostess has issued a Turnip Challenge - each family is to bring a turnip dish and a prize will be awarded for the one voted best tasting. I usually just cook the turnips with a large white potato and mash them, add butter and seasoning but that's nothing really different or great. Love to hear how others make their turnips. May

PS. What I call a turnip is the one with the yellow flesh and is usually cover with wax.

People actually eat turnips - on purpose!! :?

Ahhh real southern food!!!

I like them just cubed up and boiled with some fat back and a pinch of sugar.

Billy

Turnip pie. Just pretend you're making sweet potato pie. I use cloves in my pies btw. Don't think it would work otherwise.

Does it have to be just turnip? If not, here's one of my favourite recipes. Bonus, it's simple!

Oven Baked Winter Vegetables

8 peeled, sliced carrots
8 peeled, sliced parsnips
1 thinly sliced onion
1 cubed turnip
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp thyme
salt & pepper
1 cup shredded asiago cheese

Prepare vegetables and scatter in 9x13 baking pan. Mix chicken stock with cornstarch and thyme. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour over vegetables. Cover pan tightly with foil and bake at 400 for 1 hour. Remove foil. Sprinkle with asiago cheese and return to over just long enough to melt and lightly bubble the cheese (this may be done under the broiler).

The vegetables can be mixed up in your own preference of quantity/variety. Basically it's the asiago cheese that's the key to yummy!

Here's another:
Honey-glazed Carrots and Turnips
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2" diagonal slices
1 lb turnips, peeeld and cut into 1/2" wedges
2 tbsp honey
In large deep skillet over medium heat, melt butter with brown sugar. Stir in tarragon, salt & pepper. Add carrots and turnips, drizzle with honey and toss to coat. Cover, cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Remove cover; cook, stirring occasionally until liquid has evaporated and vegetables are tender and golden brown, 10-15 minutes.

Ok, now I'm hungry.

I love this challenge!!! Your family sounds like a lot of fun :D :D :D

I love turnips and parsnips in soups, stews, and in just about anything!!! I will be keeping an eye on this post for more ideas!!! :wink:

I like purple turnips best. Just sliced thinly and salted which isn't really a dish. When I was a little kid my uncle used to carve them into drinking cups for me. You would get the kid vote with that, at least.

What an awesome uncle!!! Isn't it great how when someone takes the time to do something novel like that, the memories last forever and so do the smiles whenever you are reminded of it?

My grandfather lived in the panhandle of Oklahoma. A neighbor raise really big turnips. The whole town would go and gather these. He would fix them many ways, but I loved them fried in butter with salt and pepper, like potatoes. i think he put some onion with them and tiny bit of sugar.....
Dix

My thoughts exactly!!!

what's the difference between a turnip and a rutabaga?

I also like whichever is the yellow one mashed and served with mashed potatoes. YUM.

White vegetables are yummy diced, boiled in salt water, drained and then mixed in a (sp?) bechamel cheese sauce.

Can't say I've ever intentionally or knowingly eaten a turnip :roll: Keep the ideas coming...maybe I'll try one (just so I don't tell family what it is).

The recipes b.zang posted look really good!!! I may have to try one of them for our church thanksgiving potluck next week. ;) I usually keep it simple....steam or boil turnip and carrots in a small amt of water..., drain, then mash with a little butter, cream, and br.sugar.

The difference between turnip and rutabaga? Turnip is the one with the purple top, rutabaga is yellow. Both are good. :D

Hey gals, your recipes and ideas are great and some are funny too, keep them coming.

Think I should have the hostess clarify which veggie she means. I call the yellow flesh one turnip when it think it really is a rutabaga, don't think I've ever eaten a white turnip. May in Jersey

My Swedish grandmother used to make "Rootmoose"

Half white potatoes and half turnip, whipped up with butter, hot milk and

s & p. Exactly like regular mashed potatoes plus the mashed turnip.

Don't know if we all liked it because it was good or because we loved

saying "Please pass the Rootmoose!" We always have it for

Thanksgiving.

I had turnips once at a friend's house when I was about 14. The horror is still with me 50 years later!!

you're my kind of girl! i like the same things, too. all the roots.

My thoughts exactly!! :? :?

poor turnips. they get a bad "rap" ... like broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts.

i have learned to love the broc and the cauli.

but, ok. i confess. i still have to be in just the right mood for brussel sprouts. and that ain't often. :lol:

bean soup just isn't bean soup without chunks o'turnip.

I'm still adapting to rutabagas in soup.

use the smaller ones and criss-cross cut the stems before boiling. It takes a lot of the strength out. Somewhere I have a great recipe that uses the blanched Brussel Sprouts in a casserole with meatballs. It's really yummy.

Ditto!!!

Growing up in Germany, we had a root crop called black root. It looked like a thin carrot gone bad. Grandpa would scrape the outer skin off and Mother would have a cow because he did so with great enthusiasm. (Read we had to wipe down and mop the kitchen when he was done) They were prepared kind of like turnips and Grandpa and I were the only ones who liked them.

I have a recipe for Turnip-Bacon Puff.
you bake it in a 2qt. souffle dish, or a cassorle dish would work. let me know if you want the recipe. I'll post it .
The challenge seems interesting.

Donna, Your recipe sounds different, please post it. May in Jersey

I have a Mrs. Beeton's recipe book (cookbook dated to the 1860s). I can see what recipes she lists for turnips if you are interested.

This sounds much like a recipe I have for a squash puff. Hmmmm wonder if I can substitute turnip in that recipe?!?!?!

Here is a turnip recipe that has been a hit at our house. Even my 85 year old dad, who never ate turnips - likes it!
I cook and mash my turnips as I always have.
Then I spread half of them into the bottom of a casserole
Next I layer sliced MacIntosh apples over turnips.
Then spread the remaining half of the turnip on top.
Next I make a Crumble Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. butter
Mix those together and sprinkle around the outside ring of your casserole, letting the turnip peek through in the middle.
Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes.
Delicious - Enjoy!

Oh Happy Cathy, I think your way of making turnips will make everyone Happy. May

We just have it diced and steamed not mashed. Now several of my grans tasted them before cooking and they love it raw :D

Sara, that is what I'm a screamin' too! :mrgreen:

:D May, you guys must loooove turnips. So many turnip dishes, whoa! :roll:
I respect your right to eat what you like, but um, I'll have to turn down your generous invite...not on my diet :mrgreen:

asiago cheese? I don't think I am familiar with this. Where can I find asiago chees? Does it have another name? All the Turnip
recipes sound good. Turnips have purple tops.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I buy asiago cheese at the supermarket. It's not quite so hard as parmesan, but harder than cheddar and has kind of a nutty flavour. You can probably substitute parmesan or grana pardano. If there is an ethnic grocer around, or specialty shop, asiago cheese originated in Italy.
Time to go do some cooking!!

I like to peel them, slice them thin -- like maybe 1/4" -- refrigerate them & use as a crudite & dip them in some kind of sour cream dip -- maybe onion dip.
Janet

Me 3!!! I don't think we eat those in CA!!!! LOL

Ok, I am going to try all 3 of these recipes posted. I have not eaten a Turnip in years. I LOVE Parsnips and Rutabaga's, and put them in my stews all the time during the winter. But Turnips. I am going to try the first dish for Thanksgiving. Thanks gals, I will let you know how we liked it. I'm a North Dakota gal, and we did have turnips, I just didn't eat them as a kid, like the parsnips and rutabaga's, that is a LEARNED taste. Parnsips to me are just an overgrown carrot and I really love root vegetables.

OK, May. Who won the Great Turnip Challenge on Thanksgiving? How many turnip dishes were brought?

Yes, I would love to know who won, and I just love turnips eat them all the time.