Turnip Puree and Other Lies

Brian decided to try something different with the turnips we got this week, so he made a turnip puree. A delicious dish that tastes and feels somewhat like a tangy, buttery, mashed potato.

The only time I've ever encountered a turnip puree was in a very fancy restaurant. It was the kind of tiny-portioned place where your serving of turnip puree is just a tablespoon or two artfully smeared on the plate underneath your very expensive ounce of steak. It seemed the kind of dish usually served with asparagus and mushrooms whose names I can't pronounce. Or, for some reason, with frisee.

Naturally, I assumed that turnip puree was something Really Fancy. And that being Really Fancy, turnip puree would be complicated to make. That it would require more than 3 ingredients.

Lies, all lies. Turnip puree is one of the easiest recipes we have tried.

Turnip Puree

Ingredients:
Turnips
Butter
Salt and pepper

Steps:
1. Boil turnips until soft
2. Put turnips in food processor, add salt, pepper, and butter to taste, and puree

Loot: Week 3 and How All These Weeks Are Running Together

This week at the farm stand we found more turnips, carrots, zucchini, summer squash, basil, more peas, lettuce, kale, and shallots.

You may have noticed that in the pesto pasta dish yesterday, there was fresh basil. Where did the basil come from, you may ask. It came from our week 3 loot. There are two possible explanations for this. One is that we're time-traveling vegetable-eaters, hopping week to week all summer to find the best ingredients for our favorite recipes. This is the cooler explanation, and the one I would prefer you believe.

The other explanation is that we're posting a couple of weeks after we are getting, cooking, and eating all these vegetables. And that some weeks, take-out sounds really good, so the vegetables are waiting (patiently, of course, because everyone knows that vegetables are patient) for us to get to them. Which gives rise to interesting combinations of vegetables that wouldn't be otherwise possible (you know, unless we went to the store and actually bought them).

For example, the garlic scapes from week 2 were photographed, mentioned in the loot post, and never discussed again. You'll see them pop up again in week 4, in a very tasty dish along with the shallots and summer squash from this week, and more garlic scapes and summer squash we have yet to get in week 4. So there you have it. Time-traveling vegetables.

The turnips were the first to go

First to be devoured were the turnips. And let me say, turnips, when prepared well, will always be the first devoured.

We took lovely shots of all of our vegetables before and after cooking this week. However, as a result of some technical difficulties or possibly just some technical stupidities, we lost most of our pictures. In the place of photos, please enjoy these lovely artist's renderings.

I have never had turnips before, that I am aware of.  Brian, however, has, and could hardly wait to get his hands on them.  With only a few simple ingredients, he turned them into these.

Here's how (this one's easy):

Sauteed Turnips

1 Tbsp butter
Turnips

Step 1: Sautee turnips in butter.

Done!

The Loot: Week 1

Our vegetable share for week 1 was surprising.  Having never been a part of a CSA before, we were not sure what to expect.  More specifically, we were not sure how much to expect.  Certainly, it was not this much:

What a bounty!  We have green garlic and chives, kohlrabi and turnips, arugula, fava beans, a head of lettuce, and the biggest bunch of kale I've ever seen.  Granted, I've never cooked kale before, so it's possible that kale simply comes in very large bunches.

We also have a flower membership.  Every week we will bring home a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers.  (This may or may not be the primary reason that I wanted to do this in the first place.)  This week there are sunflowers, orange poppies, and a lot of unidentified white, yellow, and blue blossoms.  The photo doesn't do it justice.