I Do Not Like Turnips

On Friday I went on a bit of a cooking frenzy. I'd decided to make roast chicken with mashed turnips, and tarte tatin and have a few of my brothers-in-law over for dinner (they live two blocks away). At the last minute, I changed the tarte tatin to plain old apple pie because the tatin recipe I had looked like it would take hours that I did not have. I also had the popovers to make (pictured above).

First, the popovers. Very easy to make, and they were delicious hot from the oven. I used Marion Cunningham's recipe from The Breakfast Book which suggested adding a dollop of orange marmalade to the muffin tins before adding the popover batter. I think I overdid it a bit with the marmalade, and therefore didn't get as much height for the popovers as I'd hoped. They are not good reheated, so I would only make them again if I was having people over for brunch.

I planned Friday's dinner using the turnips I'd picked up in East Aurora on Wednesday, and I also had about 2 pounds of ginger gold apples. I added peas and rolls (both pre-packaged) just to round everything out. I'd forgotten how easy it is to roast a chicken. I rubbed ground rosemary and minced garlic under the skin before throwing it in the over. Two hours later and we had tender, moist chicken that was nicely seasoned.

The pie was also very easy to put together. I have my own recipe for delicious apple pie filling, which I will be sharing in a future post. I haven't made pie in probably 4-5 years, but once I got my pastry blender and shortening out, it all started coming together (the biggest "secret" is to use water that is absolutely ice cold for the flakiest crust so I fill a measuring cup half full and then drop an ice cube in).

The turnips I diced and boiled, then mashed with milk, butter, salt, pepper, and a few strips of crumbled bacon (figuring that bacon pretty much makes everything better). All of the men (two of my brothers in law and my husband) loved the turnips and went back for seconds. I thought they tasted terrible. A very earthy, almost bitter taste. Of course, everyone in my husband's family loves brussel sprouts but I can't even stand the smell of them. I would be willing to try them again roasted, since that cooking method can change the flavor.

I have really been enjoying trying out the different foods and recipes from my food resolutions. I have been working to incorporate local foods into what I make, but also to get back to why I liked cooking in the first place.