Turnip Soup With Turnip Greens

This recipe was submitted by Kim Stroud, our neighbor at the farm from the Ojai Raptor Center and one of Rio Gozo Farm's CSA members. We love to know what you're cooking.

Turnip Soup with Turnip Greens

(from Greens cookbook)

Check out this book and others from the website Culinate

"People often think of turnip soup as bitter and thin, but this one, made with young delicate turnips , is creamy and sweet. Blanching the turnips first removes any bitterness, and the sharpness of the greens makes a delicious counterpoint to the sweetness of the turnips."

The Soup Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs small turnips (about 1-2 inches across), weighed without their greens

Salt

5 tablespoons butter, in all

2-3 leeks, white parts only (about 8 ounces), sliced

6 branches thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

4 cups milk

White or black pepper

About 2-3 cups turnip greens

Fresh chopped thyme for garnish (optional)

Directions

Peel the turnips and slice them into rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil; then add 2 teaspoons salt and the turnips. Cover the pot and cook for 1 minute; then drain.

Melt 3 tbsp of the butter in a soup pot with 1/2 cup water. Add the leeks and the blanched turnips, the thyme, and 1 tsp salt. Stew them, covered, over medium low heat for 5 minutes, and then add the milk. Slowly heat it without bringing it to a boil, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the turnips are completely tender. Cool the soup briefly; then purée it in a blender. If necessary, thin it with additional milk or water. Season to taste with salt, if needed, and freshly ground pepper.

Sort through the turnip greens and remove any that are bruised or especially tough looking, and wash them. Melt the remaining 2 tbsp of butter in a pan, add the turnip greens, and cook them over medium heat until they are tender, about 5-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the cooked greens to a cutting board and chop them, roughly or fine, as you prefer, then add them to the soup and serve. Or garnish with fresh chopped thyme.

Serves 4-6

Enjoy

Chard Utopia

Do all readers know that chard is basically year-round here in SoCal? Also beets. If you've been in the CSA for any length of time, this is probably self-evident, but it bears repeating. Because to make the CSA work, you MUST have some good uses for chard. Also beets.

This one was sent to me by Celia from one of her favorite CSA friendly cookbooks Simply in Season. She claims that she made a half recipe and it used up all the chard, beet, and turnip greens, plus some of that wonderful fresh basil we have been getting recently. Also, it's delicious. Here it is as a half recipe, since a full recipe makes a bazillion servings, and the half recipe only makes 4 - 5.

1 C onion

fresh basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

pinch salt

Saute in pan for 5 minutes w/some oil.

1 1/4 lbs chard, beet greens, and turnip greens (stemmed and chopped)

Add to pan with onion and wilt (about 5 mins)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 Tbs flour

Add to mix, stir and cook for 2 - 3 mins. Remove from heat

1 C feta (crumbled)

1/2 C cottage cheese

pepper to taste

Mix in.

1/2 lbs frozen phyllo (thawed)

This last bit is where you have to get a bit creative. I wasn't at Celia's to enjoy this recipe, so I don't know if she cut the phyllo sheets in half and made her half batch that way, or what. Actually, it probably is what I just suggested. But just in case it's not, here is the recipe as written. If you choose to make it, you'll just have to modify on the fly. Fun!

Place a sheet of phyllo on an oiled 9x13 pan. Brush with more oil and place another sheet on top. Repeat 7 times. Spread half the filling evenly on top. Add 8 more sheets of oiled phyllo. Cover with the rest of the filling and finish with the remaining sheets of phyllo. Bake uncovered at 375 for 45 minutes.

- Christiana