I'm still writing, reading, rating and commenting. I am working my way to orange, slowly but surely.
I'm still writing, reading, rating and commenting. I am working my way to orange, slowly but surely.
Member since:18.11.2006
Reviews:55
Members who trust:32
It is now Autumn and I am attracted by the return of the season's vegetables. Today for our dinner we had steak with mash and turnips. Turnips are a favourite vegetable of mine, they always remind of Autumn and especially Halloween, when we were children, before we had heard of Pumpkin we used to carve our scary Halloween lanterns from turnips. It was very hard work, a turnip is much harder to carve than a Pumpkin.
I grew up in a family of five children and we didn't have a lot of money but my Mother always tried to make filling meals for us, they may not always have been the healthiest but at least "they stuck to your ribs", quite a regular contributor to mealtimes was turnip. Very often we would have potatoes, boiled and perhaps mashed, bacon or sausages and turnip, the turnip was usually boiled, mashed and then fried in the bacon fat to give it flavour. My Mother also added turnip to soups and stews, not everyone in my family liked turnip but at least in soups or stews the taste was hidden, turnip is good for bulking out soups and stews.
The turnip has quite a distinct taste, hard to describe, I find it quite nutty. It is orange in colour and has a purple coloured skin. The turnip can be quite hard to peel and cut, I get my husband to do this. I usually cook mine by dicing it and then putting it in water, bring to the boil and simmer, the length of time it takes to cook depends on how you like it. My husband likes the turnip with a bite not mushy, if I am going to make the turnip into a mash I cook longer than if I am going to serve diced. I generally don't fry mine in bacon fat, my husband hates this, and usually serve it as a side vegetable with my dinners. I do use it in soups and stews. I like the taste of raw turnip, and there is no reason not to eat it raw, however it is not a vegetable I would add to salads or other non-cooked meals.
As I said earlier I had turnip today for my dinner, just diced and cooked in water, drained and served hot. I also used some of the turnip to make dinners for my baby son. For my son I made sweet potato, carrots and turnip. I boiled the sweet potatoes and carrots and then added some turnip. I mashed all three together and mixed then thoroughly, my son seemed to like it very much.
From what I have read about turnips they are a healthy root vegetable, they are high in vitamin C and fibre. I bought my latest turnip in Asda and it cost 80 pence, it was not organic but it was locally grown.
A healthy, tasty, versatile, seasonal vegetable that I would recommend.
Ignore the ratings below, I definitely didn't get a manual with mine!
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Advantages: As always, fresh from the garden is best. Disadvantages: You have to eat haggis with them, which I appreciate is not everyone's cup of tea.
Aspen 26.02.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Turnips
Advantages: As always, fresh from the garden is best. Disadvantages: You have to eat haggis with them, which I appreciate is not everyone's cup of tea.
Aspen 26.02.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Turnips
Sep 20th, 2008
very helpful by (100%):
