cooking @ home

Here’s another side — one I did for Thanksgiving — and yet another “odd” root vegetable. Now, depending upon where you live, you’re saying “that’s not at all odd; we have it all the time”. Here in the Northeastern United States, well, common as it is at the market during the winter, it’s also one of those vegetables most people tend to pass up when they’re shopping. Often for the same reason as they might a rutabaga or the various winter squashes, simply because they are both unsure of what it is and of how to cook it. (But then that’s why you come here to find out, isn’t it?)

While the recipe itself is one of the simplest and shortest, there does need to be a some-what extended backstory here. You see, not only is this vegetable very much confused with at least two other veggies, but to make matters worse, depending upon what country you live in, they all have different names. And, of course, to compound things still further these differing names all confuse each other, meaning the same veggie called one thing in one place, that same name refers to a totally different vegetable in yet another place.

In fact, I won’t even try to do this myself when Wikipedia has done such a good job with it, so, taking advantage of the Creative Commons usage, let me just plop down their table right here for you. I’ve altered the one row which deals with the turnip to stand out more.

Ok, we’re cool then. This recipe is about the turnip. The real turnip. The one sometimes referred to as a white turnip. (I also refer to it this way myself as I think it lessens the possible mixup.) And even though it is mostly white (where as a rutabaga or swede is yellow), there is also some purple on the turnip as you see in the photo where it has gotten extra sunlight.

Now that we have the name and the color down, there is one final slightly confusing thing you should know, and that is it can be found at the market in one of three shapes or forms. Sometimes you will see turnips either with the long tail root still attached, or with both the long tail root and the green crown of leaves on it, or, as they just happened to come where I bought them, pretty much round with what seems to be a nub on them, where all the excess has been taken off and looking more like an odd potato.

Whew! Are we through all that? Yes. So basically, in this particular case I treated the turnip much as I would a potato. That said, one thing to note is turnips can really hold water well. I’m talking about the same way chopped spinish does, where you have to not just drain but “smoosh” it or press it really well to get all the water out. Make sure you do this else your dish will not come out as well. So, to quickly recap, you boil it much like a potato for mashing, then drain it extra well as you would with spinach, and enjoy the unique and delicious taste.

White Turnip Mash
©2007 Harry Kenney

2 pounds turnips
butter
salt
pepper

Peel the turnips (may be easier with a knife than a peeler) and cut into chunks. Toss into boiling water. After about 20 minutes or when a fork can go through them with some ease, remove and drain thoroughly. Very thoroughly. Place in large bowl and mash as you would potatoes. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste and serve. Makes roughly four servings.