Turnips aren’t just vintage! They are ancient! We know they were eaten by the Romans at the
beginning of the Christian Era. They were easy to cultivate, so they spread to
many places.
I’ll take you back to the
time Henry VIII. Turnips were on the
menu! They boiled and baked the turnip
roots. They stewed the turnip tops and
made ‘salat’ from the tender-most greens!
The turnip came to Canada in 1541 by the French explorer, Jacques
Cartier. Colonists brought the turnip to
Virginia in the 1620s and the Native Americans adopted it and it became
commonly grown.
Some call the turnip ‘humble’. I call it delicious. I am a huge fan. I also call it, inexpensive, easy to store
and a bargain in the kitchen. It is
filled with vitamins and nutrients, and like so many other vintage vegetables,
it is at the top of the healthy eating list!
There are many things to do with a turnip, and let’s
not forget that the Irish used turnips to carve for jack o’ lanterns, long
before the pumpkin debuted on All Hallows Eve!
The vintage recipes for cooking turnips in a pot with onion and smoked
pork are all over cyber land. You can
use a ring of kielbasa, pork ribs, or bacon.
You can add a turnip to your
boiling potatoes and mash it right along with the spuds. You can add a turnip, sliced thin, to the
casserole of au gratin potatoes. Make sure you cube a turnip to add to your
favorite version of vegetable soup. Roast chunks of turnip in the oven and let
the sugar in them caramelize. Delicious!
Add julienne strips of turnip to a fresh salad.
Shred a turnip for a fantastic spice cake! Yes!
I’m going to share two recipes with you. This beautiful baked turnip is stuffed with
sausage, breadcrumbs and Gouda cheese.
It is so easy, and it is important to note that I used left over
breakfast sausage and a couple biscuits as my breadcrumbs!
Use medium sized raw turnips. Cut the top off and
scoop out most of the center. Leave a half-
inch thick shell. Chop the part that you
scoop out. Mix it with some cooked
sausage, breadcrumbs. Stuff that mixture
back into the turnip. Top it with a pat
of butter and a chunk of Gouda cheese.
Havarti cheese or Swiss cheese would be good, too.
Add a little bit of water to the roasting pan and
cover it with foil. The water will steam
the turnips and help them cook through.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes, depending upon the size of the
turnips. Remove the foil and finish
baking for another ten minutes, so the tops get crispy. These are delicious and look beautiful plated
or served on a big platter. Enjoy!
I first featured this cake recipe in one of my Made at Home newspaper cooking columns in 2010, but I have shared it over and over again! It is delicious and you’ll want to try it. Nobody will know that there is a turnip in the batter!
Turnip Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze
1¾ cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups shredded, peeled turnip
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
Lemon Glaze:
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
Whip together the sugar, eggs, olive oil and almond extract. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time
and whip until well blended. Stir in the
turnip and walnuts. Pour into a
prepared 10- inch tube pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 – 50 minutes until a
pick inserted comes out clean. Cool the
cake for 20 minutes before inverting. Mix
the glaze ingredients until smooth and brush a little over the warm cake. Reserve the remaining glaze to pour over
each piece of cake when serving.I'll be sharing this post with a couple parties, so make sure you check my sidebar for the list! If you'd like to see other posts from my Vintage Vegetables series, just click the page in my menu! Enjoy ... and eat your vegetables!
