January Garden Soup

Sunday, January 13, 2008

While last week’s frugal winter soup focused on ingredients frozen from our summer garden, this weekend’s soup used some fresh stuff I picked yesterday thanks to the disturbingly warm winter temperatures we’ve been having.  I meandered out to the garden to dump some compost scraps and was a bit surprised to see that the kale plants had a lot of young leaves on them.  I guess a week of temperatures in the 60s got the plants going again.  I grabbed some scissors and snipped a bunch of the leaves to add to my baked potato soup along with fresh parsley, rosemary and thyme from my kitchen garden. 

Since my soups are usually improvised, I didn’t write down the exact measurements.  I started with some melted butter and sautéed celery, onions and garlic.  I then added about ¼ c. of spelt flour from Small Valley Milling (see story about the farm here from Farming Magazine [available at the Fair Food Farmstand], about 4 cups of veggie broth and some milk.  Then, I added some baked potatoes that I had mashed and some that I diced along with the fresh herbs.  In the last ten minutes, I added the chopped baby kale. 

Because my husband is a big guy that isn’t necessarily satisfied with just a bowl of soup, I try to bake up something to go alongside.  This time, I found a recipe for wheat germ muffins in one of my favorite cookbooks for practical, frugal cooking using whole foods:  American Wholefoods Cuisine by Nikki and David Goldbeck.  I understand that there is a second edition of this cookbook, but my copy is one that my husband found for me at a used bookstore a few years ago.  I’ve gotten many basic vegetarian recipes from it.  I substituted the spelt flour for half of the whole wheat flour called for in the recipe with good results.  I’m going to keep experimenting with this flour, but so far it’s been great.

All in all, it was a simple supper.  I’m glad I happened to spy the kale because I’m sure the forecasted snow will kill the plants. Then again, who would have thought that they’d be alive and producing in January?

Did You Do It?

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Way back in September of last year(!), I wrote a post about drying your own sweet corn, an age-old method of preserving the summer’s harvest in a manner that didn’t take up nearly as much space (or require any fancy equipment) as canning or freezing.  It was something my grandmother had told me about, a story you can read here if you’d like to learn more about food traditions in my Pennsylvania Dutch farming family. 

Now the question is, did you do it?  Did you dry your own corn?  I hope the answer is “yes”, because I have a delightful dish to share that features that crunchy dried corn.  The resulting chewy-but-not-soft texture is very unique and compliments the rather nutty flavor nicely. 

OLD-FASHIONED CREAMY (dried) CORN

2 c. dried sweet corn
2 1/4 c. fat free milk
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
2 t. sugar
2 T. butter
dash of cayenne pepper
freshly ground nutmeg
generous pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 or 4 strips of cooked (soy) bacon, crumbled
1/4 t. dried marjoram


Place corn in a large heavy saucepan and stir in milk and heavy cream.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to use, stir in the sugar, butter, cayenne, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 35-40 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.  Place in warmed serving dish and top with crumbled bacon and marjoram.  Serve immediately.

Curried Squash and Potato Soup

Monday, January 07, 2008

One of my favorite winter vegetables is butternut squash, and one of my favorite ways to prepare it is in soup, especially now that we’ve had some actual winter weather.  Last week, I made a batch of soup with squash, potatoes, and carrots, which came out well enough to inspire envy among my coworkers.  The measurements for spices are all approximate—I never really measure things in cooking—but I think the proportions are about right.

Curried Squash and Potato Soup

1 onion, chopped into squares
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 square inch of ginger, minced
1 medium butternut squash, cubed
2 medium potatoes, cubed
3 carrots, chopped
3 cups of vegetable stock
1/2 T cumin seeds
1/2 T brown mustard seeds
1-1/2 T cumin
1 T coriander
1 t cardamon
1-1/2 T garam masala
1/4 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 dried chile
2 T dried parsley (approx. measure before crushing)
1 T turmeric
1/2 t fenugreek

Heat the oil with cumin seeds and mustard seeds.  When the seeds start to pop, add the onion; when the onion is almost clear, add the garlic and then the ginger.  Start adding ground spices at this point.  Add the potatoes, dried chile, squash, and stock to cover.  Simmer for a few minutes, mostly covered, and then add the carrots.  Adjust spices to taste, and simmer until the veggies are fork-soft, adding stock if necessary.  Purée and serve with a slice of homemade bread. 

Makes approximately 6 main-dish servings.

 

I’m fond of soup that I can eat with a fork, but it wouldn’t be hard to make this thinner if your tastes are different.

Frugal Fanny

One of the reasons why eating with the seasons and preserving the harvest to enjoy when fresh, local foods are limited appeals so much to me is because it requires resourcefulness. There’s something reassuring and satisfying about reaching into my freezer in the basement and defrosting pumpkin puree for muffins or grabbing a container of applesauce for my toddler to enjoy during the week. It’s also good family economics for us.  Growing a lot of our own produce means that I really hate to waste anything; I know exactly how much time and energy went into growing all of our plants and wasting parsley stems, for instance, seems counterproductive (I save them in a ziploc bag to add to my stock pot). 

My frugal tendencies mean that soup is a nearly ideal winter meal for us.  I can use some homemade stock from the freezer along with veggies frozen from our garden.  Some of them, like the green beans pictured (along with some frozen parsley cubes and lima beans that were also added to last night’s soup), weren’t the best for eating fresh because they had gotten too big on the vine.  They are perfectly suitable for a winter soup though where texture is not paramount.  My basic freezer/clean out the fridge/use-up-some-inexpensive-pantry-items soup starts with carrots, celery, onion and garlic sauteed in oil before veggie stock is added. From there, I may add some canned or dried beans, various vegetables from the freezer and the crisper, a handful of grains or pasta and various herbs and spices.  The result is always different but usually very tasty, especially when served with a homemade biscuit like the savory scallion scones we had last night.  I must admit that I feel virtuous using up those some of those homely ingredients and turning them into a delicious, healthy meal for my family for pennies.

Hobby Horse

Friday, January 04, 2008

    I’ve been thinking a lot about my hobby lately.  Food has really been my only consistent, center-of-my-life hobby for the past several years. 

Vegetables are certainly not a recent love.  Even when I was a single-digit youngster I ate my greens, my brussels sprouts, my artichokes, and almost everything else plant with glee.  When I was 12 or 13, I signed up (with five dollars of my allowance) for a community garden allotment plot around the corner from my folks’ house in Germantown. 

    Both sets of my grandparents were avid gardeners: my grandfather in West Virginia going crazy in his kitchen creating Currazzy Jam with blends of his currents and raspberries; my grandparents in Welwyn Garden City, just north of London, with their paradise of a backyard – lawn for badminton and clothes drying, netted room for fruits, vegetables, flowers, apple tree, poplars.  My British grandfather liked to experiment too, planting corn in honor of his daughter’s adopted home in America.  When he planted asparagus, I remember running my hands along the tops of those beautiful ferny plants, soaking in the news that this is what asparagus looks like in the ground.  I wanted to be a farmer for a really long time, and so did M.  We’re now working on getting a bit of land in Germantown to build a house and grow almost everything we eat.

    Sometimes I’ve been frustrated with how far I need to go in order to get where I want to be, and sometimes I’m amazed at far I’ve come.  For instance, my record keeping on our preserved items goes back to 2003, when we first adopted Amy Dacyczyn’s method (as discussed in The Tightwad Gazette). In the left column we list the preserved items and put the non-summer months across the top.  If we have 12 quarts of blueberries frozen, 12 xes get distributed across the months.  Then each time we use a quart, we cross off an x.  This keeps us from running out, but also from hoarding.  It’s such a treat to say, “Three quarts of blueberries this month!”

    What strikes me from the first list is the focus on fruit (although no blueberries), and the lack of canned tomatoes, which we were still buying.  2004 has barely any notes, but by 2005 we have picked 17 pounds of blueberries (at Emery’s in New Egypt, NJ), and 128 pounds of tomatoes (at Linvilla Orchards in Media).  There are still only 13 items, but a column has been added to indicate if the food is organic.  Also, I list Emery’s, Linvilla, Willow Creek Orchards (near Collegeville), and our CSA as our sources of food.  In 2006, the variety of foods has expanded, but due to illness and vacations, the number of units of each food is minimal.

    2007’s list is pictured above.  There’s a lot of variety, from strawberries to tomatoes to corn to sorrel, and our methods of preservation have expanded to include dried food and juice.  Also, there’s a nod to my American grandfather with “black and blue” jam (blackberries and blueberries) and, yes, grape crapple sauce (grape, cranberries, apples).  I’ve stopped using the column for organic, because most of the places we get our food now are organic, and we’ve decided local is a higher priority for us.

    Our goal of eating only locally has sometimes seemed far away, but it’s easy to forget that once upon a time I didn’t know what “eating in season” meant.  I always understood that summer tomatoes were the best, but it didn’t occur to me not to eat the pink ones in the winter.  M and I don’t have children, and my time is limited only by my energy level, so eating locally has been a perfect hobby for me.  In the summer M and I go picking about three weekends out of four, and I usually go once or twice a month during the week.  Most of our summer spare time is spent picking, canning, freezing, drying, juicing, and, of course, eating, usually to the sweet sounds of Phillies’ baseball on the radio.  Every year I learn a little more, and every spring I hope to learn something new!

Undersize Me

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

M and I watched Super Size Me last weekend.  It was 7:30 by the time we were done and we realized it was time for dinner.  But what to eat?  We didn’t want to eat anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, etc. (to paraphrase John Cusack in Say Anything). 

The movie was really good, I thought.  I avoided it when it came out because it looked like it was just intended to gross people out.  I didn’t want to watch a guy eating McDonald’s for thirty days.  But it turned out to be a real documentary with good interviews and not too much grossness for the sake of grossness.

However, we were definitely hesitant to eat afterwards.  So we said, Let’s make a meal that is quick but happy—local, light, good.  Here is what we came up with:

It’s half of a two-egg omelet (did I mention we weren’t very hungry?) with spinach and mushrooms, with a side of our canned toms and a glass of cider.  Every item is local except salt and pepper.  A truly anti-Super Size Me meal (and about as quick!).  Sigh…  Joy.

Spiced blueberry pancakes

Over the holiday break, my son had a friend who, last time he was over, I promised blueberry pancakes for breakfast. The blueberries I had on hand were of the preserved Delaware Valley College grown organic sort.  Lucky us!

During the spring and summer weeks, I usually make it to The Market at DelVal College once every week or two to stock up on locally-grown fruits and veggies.  Although some of what I purchase on these trips supplements my CSA produce for meals, I mostly go with a mission to find foods that I will preserve.  Berries and peppers are ridiculously easy to freeze, so often I’ll search for them first.

Choosing foods that are easy to put up makes the weekly chore of preservation simple and fast.  Of course, simple and fast means that my chances of burning out halfway through the season are lessened.  I like the efficiency of this system

The blueberries I used for the boys’ pancakes were purchased in June, on sale for $2.99 for two pints.  Taking them out of the freezer,  I remembered just what a fabulous idea it was to stock up on six pints of these organic, locally-grown dark blue lovelies.  They were absolutely divine, literally bursting with flavor inside the piping-hot pancakes.

Spiced Blueberry Pancakes
Serves 4 (eight pancakes)

1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons canola or safflower oil (plus some for pan)
1/3 cup water
1 cup plain rice or soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons real maple syrup (plus some for serving)
1/2 - 3/4 cup blueberries (plus some for serving)

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Reserving the berries, add all other remaining ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add to the wet mixture to the dry mixture, taking care to not overmix.  Let batter sit for ten minutes.  Stir in berries.  Using a ladle, pour scoops of batter into a preheated, well oiled pan or skillet.  When the pancakes start to bubble (about three or four minutes, depending on their size), flip and fry the other side for a minute or two.  Stack pancakes and top with all natural maple syrup and whole blueberries.

In my kitchen, making pancakes is reserved for the less-scheduled and less-rushed weekend mornings.  I usually double or triple the recipe however, so we can eat homemade pancakes during the next couple school/work days.  You know, that way we at least have the illusion of calm and leisurely mornings.  Enjoy!

No mud for us!

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year!

New Year’s Day has always been the same at my house, from the time I was born until now.  Well, in terms of food, anyway.  Our family tradition revolves around pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes.  My grandmother once told me that pork is eaten so you don’t wallow in the mud like a pig in the coming year (I’ve also heard that the tradition has something to do with the belief that pigs root backwards) and the kraut has something to do with money luck.  The potatoes, well…they just taste good with the pork and kraut.

I grew up in upstate Pennsylvania, but the main tradition in the Philadelphia area seems to be eating either lentils or black-eyed peas with some sort of greens.  The lentils, peas, and greens all represent money.  Whatever the case, it’s no coincidence that typical New Years Day traditions involve food that can easily be harvested locally right now - it only makes sense that traditions passed down generation to generation would have roots during a time when the only food you could get was what was seasonal.  I’ve never heard of a New Years Day tradition that involved strawberries and asparagus.

Our New Years Day traditional food is, unsurprisingly, all locally grown.  Our potatoes are from Landisdale Farm Fresh, mashed with some local milk and butter.  The pork roast is from Country Time Farm (it was fantastic!) that we roasted overnight in a crockpot.  And the sauerkraut is the fantastic kraut that I made this Summer from the cabbage in my CSA share.  My husband picked up rolls from Le Bus to serve with it.

We’d love to hear about your own family food traditions on New Years Day!

Summer Meets Winter

Monday, December 31, 2007

What better way to usher in 2008 than with a memory of the sweetest fruit of 2007? I broke into my frozen stash of plump blackberries from our garden to make one of my favorite winter dishes: bread pudding.  I’ve used the basic recipe for sweet and savory bread puddings of all kinds: winter squash, carmelized onion, cranberry, blueberry and, now, blackberry. This last variation is sure to be a favorite and, while so simple to make, seems to be worthy of using the precious summer berries from the freezer.

Blackberry Bread Pudding

1 loaf of challah bread cut into chunks
1 1/2 c. (or more!) of blackberries
6 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
3 c. milk
1/4 c. melted butter
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
freshly ground nutmeg

Put half of bread into greased 13x9 baking dish.  Layer berries on top and cover with remaining bread.

In large bowl, whisk eggs with sugar. Gradually whisk in milk, butter and spices. Pour over bread and push down gently. Cover and refrigerate. Overnight is best but an hour will work.

Preheat oven to 350.  Remove covering and bake pudding for 1 hour until puffed and golden.

Happy New Year!

Grilled Ham, Cheese, and Apples

Friday, December 28, 2007

In the lovely holiday lull between Christmas and New Year’s, we’ve been looking to use our time off to tackle a few cooking-related items.  First, either eat or dispose of the leftovers from the multitude of family meals.  Second, prepare some lunches for our inevitable return to work next week.  Third, convert some of the fresh produce in our bursting refrigerator into something more immediately useful during the workweek (e.g., carmelized onions).  Finally, have some experimenting with any and all of the above.

Today’s lunch was no different - bread, apples, butter, cheese and left-over ham served with with a side of lightly dressed baby greens.  It isn’t necessary to use smoked cheddar, but the interplay of it’s smokiness, the salinity of the ham, and sweetness of the apples is really enjoyable.  Also, there is a nice blending of contrasting textures in the crunch of the toasted bread, the creaminess of the melted cheese, the chewiness of the ham, and the crunch of the apples.  It’s a simple addition or two to a classic recipe for something different.

With the exception of the ham, which was leftover from my mother’s Christmas dinner, all items were purchased from Farm to City’s Philadelphia Winter Harvest. 

Grilled Ham, Cheese, and Apples

4 slices, Metropolitan Bakery multigrain loaf, thinly sliced
3 oz., Misty Creek Dairy smoked goat cheddar, thinly sliced
1/2 apple, Kauffman’s Fruit Farm Gold Rush apples, thinly sliced
2 oz., ham, cooked (in the future, I would probably use Meadow Run Farm bacon instead, but I had the ham and needed space in the fridge)
butter, Maplehofe Dairy

Note:  The thinly slices are important for allowing a quick cooking time without burning the bread

Heat a cast-iron pan and cast-iron press (we use Lodge, but any combination of a pan and heated weight is fine - even if it is just a brick wrapped in aluminum foil).  As the pan is heating, assemble the sandwiches.  Butter the outside of each slice of bread (i.e., the surface that will come in contact with the pan or press).  Layer in the bacon, trim to fit if necessary.  Next, add the apples and then the cheese.  Finally, add the the second slice of bread.  By this point, your pan should be sufficiently heated to make the first sandwich.  Lay the sandwich in the pan, cover the press and cook for a few minutes.  Flip and cook for an additional few minutes.  Repeat for the second sandwich.

Let them eat kale

Thursday, December 27, 2007

I’ve been singing the praises of Lacinato kale this week. When I made the kale and lamb sausage on Sunday, I was so excited by its excellent, fresh taste and the fantastic texture…and I plan to use the rest of what I purchased this past weekend to make soup tonight.  It’s really in season right now, and there’s so much you can do with it.

Admittedly, I was anti-kale for a long time.  When I thought of kale, I thought of those stupid looking ornamental kale heads that local office buildings plant in the Winter to give their garden spaces a bit of color in January.  It just didn’t occur to me that kale might be good.

The CSA program I bought into this past Summer included baby kale in a few shares and I tried it.  It was good, but not something I was crazy about.  The cold weather really transforms the taste of kale, though, and right now it’s just amazing!  Better yet, kale is one of the most nutritious vegetables available - it’s high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, lutein and zeaxanthin and reasonably rich in calcium.  It’s also an anti-inflammatory, which might be good for those of us with joint issues.  And it’s super easy to grow because it’s generally not bothered by normal cabbage family garden pests.

I’ve been seeing Lacinato kale at lots of farmer’s markets lately.  Sometimes Lacinato kale is called ‘Dinosaur kale’ or ‘Italian heirloom kale’.  In Tuscany, it’s called ‘black kale’.  It has a richer flavor and is more tender than many kale varieties.  It’s delicious!

Not surprisingly, Lacinato kale is super versatile.  You can eat it raw in a salad, and it makes excellent soups and stews.  It can be cooked simply, just sauteed with olive oil…or it can be part of a more complicated dish.  While I plan to make soup out of the kale I have at home right now, I’ll continue purchasing it while I can this Winter.  I’ve been having a hankering for handmade pasta, so I’m thinking it might be a good time to try some kale ravioli.  I haven’t made cheese lately, either, but this recipe for crostini with Lacinato kale and fromage blanc is inspiring me to make a batch!

Cranberries and Daikon: perfect together

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Earlier in the week I stopped by the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market and noticed in passing that they had Daikon radish in stock.  Daikon is a Winter radish, so I wasn’t that surprised to see it there.  But beyond making kimchi and that time I make Daikon noodles, I really don’t eat a lot of Daikon radish.

Well…I may need to reconsider.  Thanks to the genius folks over at Ideas in Food, I am now salivating over the idea of cranberry-cured Daikon radish.  Since both Daikon radish and cranberries are in season right now, this is of serious interest to me.  Now, the people at Ideas in Food used a cranberry-miso condiment out of their pantry, but I can’t imagine it would be too difficult to approximate your own miso-cranberry paste, right?  The process for making these delicious looking radishes involves packing daikon and the cranberry-miso mix in a vacuum sealed bag and letting it cure for a week.  The result is this gorgeous radish.

All sorts of thoughts are racing through my head right now.  What a neat idea for a Thanksgiving salad, no?

Celeriac: fugly, hairy, and delicious!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Up until last year, I had no idea what a celery root, aka celeriac, was.  It’s not something that my mother ever served up when I was a kid, and it’s not like they look so appetizing I had to pick one up immediately and try it.  Really, they’re dirty-looking, knobby, gnarly, and hairy.  But I’m happy to say that I overcame my bias against warty-looking food and tried it one day - and now it’s among my favorite vegetables.

This very ugly vegetable is a variety of celery that was bred to have a giant root.  It was first recorded as a food plant in 1623.  And while it’s widely used in Europe, it’s not something overly familiar to most Americans.  I introduced it to my in-laws last year on Thanksgiving by serving a mashed celery root and potato dish.  They are now dedicated fans of the celery root.

Some say it tastes like a combination of celery and parsley.  Some people say jicama.  I think it’s a little bit nutty and sweet.  Whatever the case, if you’ve not tried celery root, I heartily recommend you give it a go.  In addition to being a really nice addition to mashed potatoes, celery root has about 101 uses.  It can be made into a coleslaw-esque remoulade salad, a puree, a yummy soup, or even a hearty gratin.

As with all vegetables, there are some recipes involves celery root I’ve been dying to try.

• Black Bass with Grilled Celery Root and Ginger
• Celery Root Risotto with Pesto
• Celery Root Ravioli

I am particularly interested in a recipe for celery root and Asian pear salad, since both are in season and readily available right now.

Dark Days: Winter Vegetable Chowder

Saturday, December 15, 2007

I practically live on soup in the colder months.  That should be obvious - this is my second Dark Days Challenge meal of the week that was soup...and in truth, both were pots of soup, so I’ve been eating both soups all week.  The pot of soup I just made is my secret weapon soup - it’s always good and uses up whatever Winter vegetables you have on hand.

In my case, that was carrots, turnips, parsnips, and celery root (all picked up from the Fair Food Farmstand).  The recipe calls for four cups of any Winter vegetable.  I’m not sure beets would work, but any other root type of vegetable probably would.

The other thing I really like about this soup is that it gives me a chance to forage in my own back yard - it calls for five crushed juniper berries.  My juniper bushes are full of berries right now!

For all the ingredients in this soup, only a few aren’t local - the salt and pepper.  That’s it!  The parsley, thyme, and bay are from my garden, the vegetables were picked up at the farmstand (except the potatoes, which are leftovers from the last CSA share), the milk and butter are local, the flour is local Daisy flour, I used local raw milk cheddar, and the bread is from Le Bus.

2 c. milk
3 parsley branches
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 onion, sliced
10 peppercorns, slightly crushed
5 juniper berries, slightly crushed
2 Tbsp butter
2 large leeks, chopped
4 c. chopped winter vegetables [I used turnips, celery root, and carrot
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 small bay leaves
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp flour
slices of sourdough
shaved parmesan cheese

Put milk, parsley stems, thyme, 2 bay leaves, onion, peppercorns, and juniper berries in a saucepan; bring to a boil, remove from heat and let steep while cooking vegetables.

Melt butter in a soup pot over low heat.  Add veggies, 2 bay leaves, parsley, and two pinches of salt; cover and cook for two minutes.  Add flour; stir well.  Add five cups of water; boil.  Lower heat to simmer; cook 20-25 minutes until veggies are fork tender.  Strain milk into soup pot and toss the solids.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place a slice of bread in the bottom of a bowl, sprinkle with shaved parmesan, and ladle soup over bread and cheese.

A word of warning: this is some of the most filling soup ever!

Be it ever so humble, there’s nothing like a turnip

Friday, December 14, 2007

Turnips are plentiful ‘round these parts right now.  The farmer’s markets are just full of them!  Oddly, turnips suffer by reputation with many people.  They allege that turnips are woody, that they’re ugly, that they don’t taste good.  Stop maligning the turnips!  They are delicious and nutritious (high in fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Potassium and Copper), with an interesting history.

Did you know that turnips were originally used to make jack o’lanterns around Halloween?  In Ireland, turnips were hallowed out and lit inside to keep the demons and devils away. 

Despite all that, I’m really in it for the taste.  And, like I said, turnips are delicious - and not just my favorites, the Hakurei turnips.  Regular purple-topped varieties are really great, too!

So what can one do with the turnip, other than use it as a tool of the paranormal?  I like to use them in soup and I know lots of people who are crazy about them simply roasted, but there are lots of possibilities.  They can be pickled, made into custards, transformed into latkes, and even the greens can be used! 

There are two turnip recipes I’ve been dying to try: turnip souffle and warm turnip green dip.  I guess I’ll have to nip out the nearest farmer’s market later and pick up a mess of turnips!