Sunday, March 11, 2007

CSA : aka Pretty Expensive, Unusual Veggies

Andrew and I, along with a few other friends, belong to a CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture) group, which means we hand a wad of money over to a group of farmers and then they give us veggies every week for one growing season. This is the first time I had ever done this, and there aren't a lot of options during the winter months. The CSA we're using this time is a very hippie organization, touting biodynamic food. (If you've never heard of that, click on the link and then explain it to me. I still don't get the allure of biodynamic goodness.) We've been disappointed because they don't use a lot of local food and because it seems pretty expensive. (But we haven't given up - this summer we're doing a cheaper CSA, one that really is a local farmer.)

However, the plus has been exposure to vegetables that I've not only never eaten, I hadn't even heard of before. There was salsify, the potato-substitute that gives you gas, Jerusalem artichokes (neither artichokes nor from Jerusalem), and turnips. Okay, well, I had definitely heard of turnips before, but I'm pretty sure I'd never eaten them. We got a few pounds this week, and after consulting my beloved epicurious.com, I boiled them until they were soft, then sauteed them until they were crispy, adding bread crumbs, herbs, and lemon zest. Which made them, um, edible, I guess. Andrew didn't seem to mind them, but his palate is still calibrated to English food, and I don't trust his judgement. I thought they were sort of bitter, and they stunk up the house to high heaven.

Has anyone had a good experience with turnips? Can you make turnips edible? (Or is it just a matter of trying to disguise the flavor?)

5 comments:

alexis said...

That always seemed like such a good idea - there are no farmers here I think that do that. We only grow tulips. For turnips you may try slicing them into small chunks and roasting them. Roasting usually brings out the sweetness in tubers.

Salsify, the potato-substitute that gives you gas. Sounds like a marketing winner.

stef said...

salsify- too funny! I've never tried it. I don't know why I have never really experimented with turnips yet. Although i too live by the epicurious so it is always a little sad when even they cannot help you out.
There is a natural food store here that does a similar arrangement but you pay by the weeks instead of a longer commitment, you get a grab bag of organic whatever they have, in the summer they try to do local. So far I've been really pleased!

Anonymous said...

Cooked turnips taste a bit like cooked radishes. I generally like cooking radishes (both boiled and stir fried) in 1/3 inch disks with oil, ginger, salt and pepper. Super yummy!

There is not much you can do to disguise the smell while cooking (I actually quite like it, it is very old world and reminds me of soups my mom made). I boiled ours this time with lots of sage and thyme. I didn't notice the sage and thyme (as Jonathan cooled down the veggies before serving and thus washed away the flavor) but it did cut down on the smell.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Alexis - I think turnips always do well roasted. In addition braising them with a good, fat oriented flavor base like chinese red cooking, a choucroute type of flavoring, etc.

Pulisha said...

I'd love to add in something of use to the cooking discussion, but I've never been able to get over the smell of cooking turnips. Much like the smell of eggs (I've never been able to even attempt to make frittata because I just can't stomach the odor), the smell of turnips just kills my appetite. Hopefully your next CSA will have a wider variety!