Ask Linda: let's talk about turnips and rutabagas

DH doesn't exactly roll his eyes when I mention that I'm planting rutabagas today, but it's not a food either of us grew up with. I did prepare some baby turnips last spring sauteed in butter that he liked, so there's hope. What else to do with these amazing roots that will be coming out of the garden this year?

I most commonly eat turnips raw, right from the garden. My brother shreds them and adds them to cole-slaw, or ferments them into sauerkraut.

We like to cook them 50%-50% with potatoes, then mash them. Yummy mashed with gravy, butter, or herbs.

You can mash turnips and/or rutabagas (the same way you mash potatoes - or try an Irish version of this dish called colcannon). I like them roasted with other root vegetables, along with onion and fennel. The greens of both vegetables are edible, by the way. One of my current favorite recipes is a cream of turnip (or rutabaga) soup, with a few handfuls of chopped turnip (or rutabaga) greens tossed in at the end and cooked until wilted. You can also try a turnip (or rutabaga) gratin with cheese, or use them in a beef or chicken stew.

Turnips are popular here, usually in a curry. If you're a meat eater, they're great cooked in chunks in the gravy or juices of meat. They lend a nice light touch to a slightly heavy fatty sauce.

They're so sweet raw here that when you're gardening, you pull them up, peel them by yanking down with your teeth, and throw the peel on the ground, where it looks like a flower with big white petals coming out of the stem.

The only way is mashed up with butter and served with haggis