238: Turnips with Yogurt and Tomatoes

So my yogurt sauce separated. To be fair the picture accompanying this Saveur recipe seems to show a little separation, too. Don't get me wrong, this tastes lovely, but looks mean a lot with food and I'm not sure I'd serve this to someone else... at least until I figured out what happenend.

Part of it is my ratio- I only used one (large) turnip and scaled back everything...except still used one whole tomato. More liquid = longer heating to thicken the sauce = yogurt graininess. I also read that high fat yogurt will hold up better to heat (this was fat free), so were I try this again I'd have a few avenues for improvement. There is another yogurt dish I've been meaning to try with the remaining bits of my share, maybe I'll put it into practice there.

Delivery 24

Potatoes - 2 pounds

Beets - 2 pounds

Carrots - 2 pound

Collards - 1 bunch

Turnips - 2

Garlic - 4 heads

Celeriac - 2 heads

Brussels Sprouts - 2 stalks

Kale - 1 bunch

Red Kernel Pop Corn - 2 cobs

Yellow Kernel Pop Corn - 2 cobs

Arugula - 1 bunch

Carrots

Carrot soup. Indian style carrots (mustardy). Root veggie stew (bonus for potatoes). Puffed carrot casserole.

Garlic

Celery Root

A few recipes via NPR. Remoulade with apples. Slaw with apples. Rotsi with potatoes.

Collards

Gratin. Italian veggie stew (bonus for kale, carrots, garlic). Collard and cheese pasties.

Popcorn

Arugula


Baby batch. Potato salad. Tartine with egg. Autumn panzanella!

Potatoes

Swedish hasbrowns (I know I have the wrong kind of potatoes, shhh), curry potato salad,

Beets

Smashed beets with goat cheese, soup!, beet and carrot latkes, beet and garlic tart, beets and eggs.

Turnips

Souffle, with tomatoes and yogurt, galette.

Brussels Sprouts

Yay! Chips with sweet chile sauce, sprouts and pecans, curried!

Kale

Salad with brussels sprouts, bread soup, gratin with sweet potatoes, with garlic and cranberries.

220: Apple and Turnip Slaw

I was originally going to do this recipe, which used turnips, carrots and parsley from my share, but of course cooked all my carrots for another dish (to be posted soon), and had to improvise. The mystery dish also featured mint, which is a minor love of mine, so I decided to go for something as cool, tart, and refreshing as I could.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself. When I realized I'd just (seriously, just) cooked all of my carrots, I decided to go on as well as I could with what I had- the turnip and apple. I was reminded of the kohlrabi and apple slaw I made a while back, and thought that a simple prep would be best. The carrots would've added some sweetness to the party, but I remembered my beet and kale salad and knew I could add a little more acid to smooth down any bitterness.

I cut my turnips and apples into little matchsticks, mixed them up with lemon juice, olive oil, mint and a little parsley. Made myself a batch that night with some salt, but the rest I put in the fridge without, to keep it from getting watery.

I rather liked it, though now and then I wasn't sure I liked that addition of parsley. And then now and then the bitterness of the turnip came through. So this morning I tossed in a little apple cider vinegar, drained out what liquid was at the bottom of the container, and brought it in for lunch, waiting to salt until I was almost ready to take lunch. It was good- a little better fresh- maybe an hour or so before kind of thing to give enough time for the flavors to meld.

216: Roasted Squash and Turnip Soup

There was a recipe I was going to follow, listed in this week's delivery post, for a roasted squash and turnip soup. I guess I used that as a guideline, but mostly did my own thing.

Ingredients:

1/2 acorn squash

1 turnip, quartered

2 onions, halved

1 head of garlic

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

~ chicken broth

~ 7 sage leaves

salt, pepper, olive oil

I roasted all my ingredients (which had been mixed with a little olive oil and salt) in a 425 degree oven until soft. As all that was near finishing I sauteed my leeks until browning, then chopped up my soft turnips and onion and threw them in the pan. Honestly these were a little under- could've used some more time in the oven, but I let them finish steaming in the pot. Squeezed my garlic out of the skins into the pot and added some chicken broth to deglaze. Let that simmer for a bit. Scooped the squash out of its skin and added that, as well as 4 or so sage leaves, let that simmer some more.

Once everything was relatively soft I picked out those sage leaves and buzzed it a bit with my immersion blender, adding stock until it blended smooth. As you can see above my soup is pretty thick, feel free to adjust to your preferences.

Added 3 or so sage leaves and let that simmer (or sputter, it's good to have a lid here as it will make a mess) until the sage was prominent enough for me, then adjusted my seasonings a bit and enjoyed with some sourdough bread.

This soup tastes so fall to me. Butternut may have been a little better (my bias), but this acorn was a lot more flavorful than the last one given to us by the CSA- maybe it was actually ripe this time?

I probably used about a cup of broth, I'll likely have another soup this week, as the chill is really starting to set in and there's nothing that I want more than comforting warm foods, especially ones that are excuses to buy and eat delicious crusty breads.

Delivery 22

Potatoes - 2 pounds

Beets - 2 pounds

Carrots - 1 pound

Red Russian Kale - 1 bunch

Purple Globe Turnips - 2

Flat Leaf Parsley - 1 bunch

Garlic - 2 heads

Acorn Winter Squash - 1

Popcorn - 4 cobs

Hot Peppers - take if you like

Red Russian Kale

Gorgeous! Kale with pecans. With smoked paprika. Kale chips. With buckwheat noodles.

Garlic

Guess. You'll probably be right.

Turnips

Believe it or not, I went for the smaller turnips, hoping to avoid the weird bitterness I had with the last big one. Slaw with carrots and apples. Slaw with carrots (bonus for parsley).

Acorn Squash

Soup with turnips. Soup with turnip chips. Soup with kale and bacon. What? I'm cold.

Popcorn

Note with the popcorn: let dry for three more weeks for best results. Um, thanks? I'll probably wait to bring this home to my parents', where there is a microwave.

Beets

Went for a bag with smaller beets. Salad with ginger. Salad with kale. Beet chips. Salad with potatoes.

Carrots

Boo orange carrots! Here's a slaw with beets (and beet greens, but I could use kale or something).

Potatoes

Ugh, potatoes. Part of me just wanted to swap these guys out for more garlic on the swap table. Here's fritters with turnips. Potato pancakes. Potato pizza dough. Or this potato cake (bonus for parsley).

Hot Peppers

Flat Leaf Parsley

I just kind of want to do wilted parsley on toast again.

201 & 202: Radishes and Turnips

A two-fer this post, as neither dish was all that successful and they both contained about the same ingredients.

201: Braised Radishes and Turnips

My only criteria for this dish was that it be the simplest thing ever involving radishes and turnips. And lo: this recipe from the NY Times couldn't really get more basic. The issue came down to the turnips. Mine was really huge, bitter, and cooked much faster than the radishes. Definitely not something I'd make again.

202: Radish and Turnip Salad

Another sad dish- quick slaw with radishes, turnips and scallions- made bitter by that same turnip (I said it was really huge), and then with a lime dressing that didn't work. I may try this again as it was quick, but I'd do something more basic, maybe not as much a dressing as a little oil, maybe some vinegar.

Definitely picking smaller turnips if they come in the share again. The one I roasted was so nicely sweet (even when raw)...and about half the size.

194: Roasted Veggie Salad

Cop out? Kinda. I'd say to really be a cop out it'd be an automatic home run, and I did have some issues with how it turned out, so there's something to talk about here.

Overall it was about a half a head of lettuce and about 3/4 cup of roasted veggies. And two scallions sliced thin for a little more oniony-ness. The dressing was just oil, vinegar, sage and pepper. I tried to make up for the lack of herb flavor from the roasted veggies themselves by adding some chopped sage to this, but it still didn't come through. I'd even left it to steep overnight- maybe I'd needed to heat the oil for it to infuse?

My standard practice of making my dressing uber vinegary didn't work well here, either. It was nice to have some contrasting acidic bite, but it was just a little too much.

Tasty salad, but a little refinement needed.

193: Roasted Veggies

So I didn't entirely enact the crazy plan I mentioned in my delivery post, but close. I took a little bit of a number of veggies from this week (butternut squash, potatoes, carrots, and turnips) and a few things that were not (onions, garlic), and tossed those with olive oil, salt, thyme and chopped sage.

Roasted them for ages (stirring every 15 minutes or so), and would've kept it going longer had my knife skills been better and my bits actually chopped the same size. As it is there's a good bit of browning and caramelized sweetness (the turnips are surprisingly sweet), but not the crispy crust you can achieve leaving them in longer.

I thought I'd added a ton of herbage, but I forget some of these things will just fall off in the cooking/stirring process. They're still lovely eaten as is, but would be good with some pasta, quinoa or another preparation I'll have for you all soon.

Delivery 20

Butternut Winter Squash - 1

Turnips - 2

Lettuce - 2 heads Lettuce Smettuce, went for another bunch of radishes again

Broccoli - 1

Radish - 1 bunch

Potatoes - 2 pounds

Garlic - 2 heads

Kohlrabi - 1 bunch

Sage - 1 bunch

Carrots - 1 pound

Hot Peppers - Jalapenos

Cauliflower - 1

I have a bit of a crazyplan this week, just to chop everything up and roast it with the sage. But then I don't have enough sheet trays/oven space/etc.

Turnips

Kinda giant turnips this week. Here's a soup. Fritters with potato and scallions. Frittata. Simple roast.

Cauliflower

Heyyy I got one that wasn't moldy this time! Faux cous cous looks neat (and I love excuses to use the food processor). Spicy roasty cauliflower steaks. Creamy curried soup. And a curry with potatoes.

Jalapenos

Part of the reason I was able to build up so many habaneros for that jelly was they were too spicy to use in normal dishes. Happy to have a few milder everyday peppers to just use as needed.

Garlic

Every time I look at this thing, I just keep thinking of Eraserhead. I'm sorry if that's now stuck in your head. I use garlic all the time, but don't want to just toss this in with a bunch of other flavors. One of my favorite things about the CSA is subtly but profoundly different ingredients taste when they're this fresh. Most likely this will just get roasted and spread on bread like butter.

Butternut Squash

Yay! Butternut squash is one of those foods I adore, but don't order it at restaurants as it's a borderline food. It can be sweet or savory, and I want none of the sweet. Or rather, additional sweet. So no cinnamon or maple syrup please, the squash brings enough of that to the party as is. Roasted squash soup. I have my own favorite soup recipe with rosemary and onions, may try that out. These wontons sound neat, if a little sweet.

Potatoes

Salad with salmon. Pizza dough. First batch that appear to have been cleaned before sending.

Carrots

Roasted carrots and avocado salad. Carrot cake pancakes. Carrots with potatoes and dill. Spoon bread.

Sage

Crispy sage. Pizza with butternut squash. If I didn't still have pate in the freezer I'd make that again.

Radishes

There was a lot of sage (and I mean a lot) on the swap table today, but thankfully my radish-hating friend left an extra bunch for me to swap out. It's more than a little ridiculous that I traded two heads of lettuce for a baby bunch of these radishes (especially when I'm on a salad kick lately), but it happened. Pickles, with cheese and chives on bread, or just with butter and salt. Or I'll just make a bunch of radish roses, and throw them at people.

Broccoli

Broccoli grilled cheese (healthy wha?). Hummus with white beans. Chilled soup (bonus for dill, which I still have from last week).

Kohlrabi

Salad with apples. Slaw with apples. Slaw with turnips.

181: Moroccan Veggie Stew

I realized I was working for 24 of the 48 hours of the weekend. Standing for much much longer. I'm caving and buying work shoes, as my legs are still complaining from all that. My brain is also largely fried, so cooking dinner was a bit of an adventure (in not the best way). I, of course, chose a complicated recipe from Bon Appetit, and also made a number of changes. I'm surprised a dish came out of it.

Ingredients:

1 lb carrots, peeled, chopped
1 1/2 lb turnips, peeled, cut into bite-sizes pieces
3 Tbs butter
1/2 pound green onions, coarsely chopped
1 Tbs chopped parsley
1 Tbs chopped fresh mint
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 oz bitter greens, chopped
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

~ salt and pepper to taste

Looking through that recipe and the changes I made, I had a few moments of "ohhh! I was so braindead cooking I can't believe I forgot _______," so please, go to that link and add some things I do not have in here. This was alright, don't get me wrong, but there can always be more garlic. And chickpeas would've been nice, because protein.

After my last experience blanching, decided to roast these veggies. I had cut the carrots smaller than the turnips, hoping they would be soft around the same time but it didn't quite work. Next time I'd give those guys a little head start before adding the turnips.

My greens were from my turnips and radishes and I would've loved more- though something more usual and like kale would've been better. Also I needed to wash them more as I got a bit of grit in there. Boo. Overall it's nicely spiced but on the sweet side- more bitter greens or a little heat would be a good addition. As it was I didn't have Harissa, so used a little sriracha. Not sure I'd make again, or if I did I'll be sure to follow the recipe a little closer next time.

179: Turnip Greens Barely Salad

This weekend I ate all the cheese. Not sure if there's any left for the rest of you, sorry. Literally: turnip greens, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Of the 48 hours of the weekend, I was standing for over 24 of them. Honestly I was too exhausted to even slice it up.

Delivery 18

Leeks - 1 bunch

Potatoes - 2 pounds

Broccoli - 2 bunches

Acorn Winter Squash - 1

Lettuce - 1 head Exchanged for another bunch of radishes

Bok Choy - 1 head

Radish - 1 bunch

Rosemary - 1 bunch

Purple Globe Turnips with Greens - 1 bunch

Hot Habanero Peppers - take them if you like

Red Cabbage - 1 head

Peppers - 2

Cauliflower - 1

Broccoli

Once again these were kind of ...floppy. I found the last batch pretty bitter, but at least there's a decent amount this time so I didn't swap them out. A few decent contenders for recipes, too: Pizza (with potatoes and rosemary), cooked forever, roasted with mustard.

Bok Choy

I'm on a salad kick lately (week long detoxes to make up for the crazy indulgence of the weekend wherein I eat all the bread, eggs, caramel sauce and butter), so a simple raw salad may be in order. Or cooked with broccoli.

Cauliflower

Crazy/amazing roundup from the Guardian, some of which will get made, but maybe not this week as I've found cauliflower and eggs with tomato sauce! Or there's roasted with ginger and mint.

Turnips

I'm not sure I've ever cooked turnips before. No wait, I did once, just roasted as a "Hey! These are cheap, let's add them to the weekly veggie roast" a few years ago. Looking to do something a little more exciting with them now. Here are options: with orange and hazlenuts, soup with leeks, mashed with potatoes and leeks, pickles, and Moroccan! Loving the looks of those greens, too.

Radish

I have four of these guys earmarked, as for what to do with the rest: easy with turnips, a pizza (pizzas are the new biscuits. also a bit of a cop out, but cacio e pepe is a great flavor profile), Indian flatbread (!), and then this weird weird bread I don't think I'll ever make, but wanted to share.

Potatoes 

Fritters with turnips, doing a more traditional potato pancake. Getting a lot of potatoesed out. Maybe I'll make bread and bring it to work to get rid of it: here are a bunch of recipes (and a German one).

Leeks

Going back to the archives a bit, but leek confit perhaps. Though a ton of recipes I've already listed use them, so I doubt I'll have trouble.

Red Cabbage

There were a few that I mentioned last time I would like to get back to: peanut/lime salad or sweet and sour. Galette with onions and feta.

Acorn Squash

Soup with Turnips, there's always a plain ol' roast as well. Or risotto.

Rosemary

I'm having trouble using all my herbs again. Still have a bunch of thyme from last week. I may whip up another batch of herb butter, just so I don't feel so bad about the sheet volume that exists in the crisper. Would also work well with potatoes and squash.

Peppers

I keep picking up tons of hot peppers without a plan in mind- though I used some in my chili verde. There are still some roasted from last week in my fridge. Let's pretend I'll make hot sauce, shall we?