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What to do with a turnip? - polite answers only please!

(83 Posts)
Luckygirl3 Sun 22-Jun-25 13:02:06

I have been given a whole pile of veg - I live alone so can't eat it up very fast and tend to cook the same things over and over again.

Amongst this treasure trove is a turnip. What would you do with it?!

Shelflife Sun 22-Jun-25 23:08:33

Turnips are small and white, swedes are lager and orange. Having said that I grew up in Yorkshire and my Mum called a swede a turnip! My Dad helped us make turnip lanterns ( no pumpkins then! ) for bonfire night or as we called it plot night! We were in fact using swedes!! Apologies for digressing, add your turnip to other root vegetables brush with olive oil , add a few twists of black pepper / salt then roast and whizz up add either beef or veg. stock then add anything else you have and make a tasty soup.

Catterygirl Mon 23-Jun-25 00:20:46

I love turnips. Easy to chop. My idea of a kitchen gadget is a very sharp knife and a very thick wooden chopping board. Think James Martin. I use them in two things. Madhur Jaffreys turnip and mint vegetable side dish. The other use is Middle Eastern coubah cooked in tomato sauce with turnip wedges. A winter soup. Make sure to add squeezed lemon juice. I will definitely try out Madhur’s lamb and turnip recipe mentioned up thread.

25Avalon Mon 23-Jun-25 04:20:10

Stir fry with other vegetables cut into thin strips.

NotSpaghetti Mon 23-Jun-25 06:17:58

I don't like turnips much (sweetest is delicious) but would use them in a stew or curry.

Here's what the BBC suggests.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/turnip-recipes

Witzend Mon 23-Jun-25 11:51:24

A bit off topic, I know, but a BiL who spends much of the year in Paris, turned up at another BiL’s French house back in March, with some very small baby turnips he’d bought in Paris. He fried them briefly in a very little oil - they were delicious.

I have recently seen plenty of turnips (not swedes) in French supermarkets. Apparently they were for decades after WW2 eschewed by the French, since during the Nazi occupation they were one of the few foods left to them by the Germans. But they are now in favour again.

RosieandherMaw Mon 23-Jun-25 12:36:23

LTB

homefarm Mon 23-Jun-25 13:51:21

peppery taste.
My grandfather liked turnip tops fried/sauteied with bacon pieces, you can do the same with the turnip thinly sliced or use in soup. The turnip should be white and quite small. Swedes are orange and large and smell horrid

EmilyHarburn Mon 23-Jun-25 13:54:54

What are turnips?
Turnips are creamy white in colour with a lovely purple, red or greenish upper part where the taproot has been exposed to sunlight. Like swedes, turnips are a root vegetable and member of the cabbage family. They’re a good source of vitamin C and, before the arrival of the potato, turnips were one of the main sources of sustenance for the English peasantry.

May be you fill find a good idea here
www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/collection/easy-turnip-recipes/

Pavane Mon 23-Jun-25 14:09:13

From Florida. Turnips here are a Southern veg. They are the root of greens. The greens, collard greens or mustard greens, are boiled with some sort of ham. The turnips are cooked with the greens and the greens and turnips are served over white rice. Pickled vinegar is usually on the table to top off the dish for those who like it. This is a dish that isn’t served much anymore as only us old folks know about it. It is hard to find fresh turnips today. We like them.

Shill29 Mon 23-Jun-25 14:11:20

🤣

Iwtwab12bow Mon 23-Jun-25 14:47:05

Peel,slice very thinly. Cook in butter in a pan with the juice and zest of a lemon add salt and pepper a little coriander,when soft mash finely with more butter and a tablespoon of double cream . Serve as an accompaniment to braised lamb cutlets.

Allira Mon 23-Jun-25 14:53:42

Astitchintime

ViceVersa

Astitchintime

If it is of the parsnip variety I would put it in the compost bin.

A parsnip is totally different from a turnip!

Well, I do beg your pardon ViceVersa but in some areas of the UK, the word turnip is used as a general term to define any root vegetables that aren’t carrots or potatoes.

Really?

I've never heard that.

GrauntyHelen Mon 23-Jun-25 14:59:46

Cook mash portion and freeze

Nibbles44 Mon 23-Jun-25 15:18:40

Chop off the skin, dice it & boil with twice as much potatoes (smaller pieces cook faster) then mash the lot. Or freeze diced turnip for later.

Mojack26 Mon 23-Jun-25 16:44:42

Dice and put in soup,dice and freeze in portions,mashed potato and turnip

Luckygirl3 Mon 23-Jun-25 18:19:18

I am going to be busy!

But in the main I don't have the suggested herbs to hand, as I am on my nown and there is no point in buying food that I will use rarely and finish up throwing away.

One of my favourite dishes is baked cauliflower, so I might microwave the turnip a bit, slice it up and add it in with that and see what it tastes like.

I am also on low fat so all these joyous cook in butter recipes are off the table for me!

usgranny Mon 23-Jun-25 18:27:35

Peel and boil until tender then mash leaving it fairly chunky and thicken with butter flour and milk. Add a bit of sugar to the water when boiling rather than salt. You can also fry the boiled turnip sliced with onion in butter with poultry seasoning sprinkled over.

4allweknow Mon 23-Jun-25 19:01:43

Big decision? Is it a turnip or a swede?

Grandmabatty Mon 23-Jun-25 19:08:05

Because the skin is hard and the flesh fairly dense, be careful with it in the microwave. Prick with a fork generously.

Allira Mon 23-Jun-25 19:36:28

Grandmabatty

Because the skin is hard and the flesh fairly dense, be careful with it in the microwave. Prick with a fork generously.

Yes!

Exploding turnips or worse.

sazz1 Mon 23-Jun-25 19:54:50

If I get one in a stew pack, I just peel, chop it up, and add to stew or curry

georgiejg Mon 23-Jun-25 22:29:02

Make soup with it, adding some other veg, then freeze in portions.

FranP Tue 24-Jun-25 00:04:44

Marg75

Boil, mash with a little butter, pepper and salt. If you're into making Cornish pasties, chopped up with meat, potatoes, onion and skirt beef!

Either will freeze, so you could do these and portion up

Whitewavemark2 Tue 24-Jun-25 02:53:32

Marg75

Allira Here in Cornwall there is an ongoing debate on the difference between turnip and swede. Believe you me, the women in my family going back very many years put turnip in pasties! Anyone want a real recipe I can give it to you, complete with how to crimp!

I am Cornish. The Cornish call swedes turnips. That is what goes into pasties. Not the white variety.

Luckygirl3 Tue 24-Jun-25 21:05:05

I made a veggie stew with it and some tomatoes and cauliflower - very tasty. Trouble is I have enough to last me all week and only a tiny freezer!