12.7.09

Playing catch up on the blog. It’s late January, 2010, and I’m filling in captions and notes for draft entries for months past. Cheers!


This is a big ol' turnip that I dug up. I grew them in the summer, but I left them in the ground too long and they became fibrous and woody. Not good for eating. Unless you're a worm. I fed my summer turnips to the worm bin.

Big ol' mess of turnip greens. Hadn't ever fixed them before so I was up for the experience.

Buncha herbs I picked to play with. Looks like thyme and some mint and some oregano.

I made turnip and red potato hash browns. I found a recipe online for potato hash browns and tweaked it a bit. Luckily, some online reading before this culinary experiment informed me that turnips hold a lot more water than 'taters, and would need to be pressed to expel water to help the hash patties hold together.

So nicely browned. They tasted a lot like potato hash browns, but with a slightly astringent flavor. Sort of bright and crisp. Different. I think the experiment was a success.


Here's my recipe:

• 2 medium turnips, cleaned and shredded (reserve greens for another dish)
• 2 medium red potatoes, cleaned and shredded
• 1 small radish (optional – this one was a “volunteer” in the yard and thusly made it into the mix)
• 4 oz shredded parmesan
• Olive oil: 2T for root veg mix, plus extra for the pan
• Garden herbs (or dried) to taste
• S & P to taste

1. To remove excess water from the potatoes and turnips, I put the shredded root veg mix by the handful into a clean cloth napkin and squeezed as mightily as I could. (Saved the run-off for the worm bin)
2. After squeezing out as much water as I could, I mixed in a handful of chopped herbs (onion leaves, oregano, sage, and thyme) and peppered the mix liberally. Drizzled in the olive oil. Tossed by hand.
3. Next I threw in about 4 oz of shredded parmesan. Real stuff, not the salty powder that comes in the green cylindrical can. Tossed one final time.
4. Heated a non-stick pan over med-high heat and drizzled in a little olive oil for extra stick-protection.
5. Added two mounds of the mix, shaping and flattening to about ½ inch as quickly as I could.
6. Had to keep playing with the heat – too low and the cheese would melt and bind but the veg wouldn’t cook all the way through; higher heat to help the patty cook better but sometimes blackened the cheese. Med-high is best, but you may have to play with it some.
7. To achieve a nice texture to the turnips and ‘taters and a crispy, golden brown from the cheese, cook 2-4 minutes on each side. Gently lift a corner of the patty with your spatula if you’re unsure. Try to flip only once, but if you turn one prematurely, don’t be afraid to flip it back over. I found that the resulting cake stayed together fairly well – certainly well enough to transfer to paper towels to drain, then to plate. They weren’t quite as crispy as a traditional potato hashbrown patty, but still a pretty fair approximation, given that this was my first attempt. I liked the flavor – sort of spicy but still familiar. Served it with sautéed mixed winter greens (kale, chard, and turnip) with onions and mushrooms.