Breakfast – the usual suspects, but lunch was a treat. TB had bought a large piece of beef rump from the local butchers and had broken it down into portions for us and some for our very spoilt cat. Yesterday he ground up some of the beef to make hamburgers for lunch.
The burgers were served with our own lettuce and a broad bean paste, made from our own beans. Now don’t go turning up your nose. If you know how to cook them broad beans are really tasty. They were a real bonus on this dish. (Sadly we forgot to take a photo of the hamburgers).
Dinner was Italian Turnip soup. I used my whole crop of turnips – well the 4 that survived multiple snail attacks to reach maturity that is – in this dish.
This turnip variety is called Rouge Flat Hatif (from the Vilmorin seed company) and when I had a small taste turned out to be quite peppery, not dissimilar to our radishes (which given that radishes, like turnips, are also a member of the brassica tribe shouldn’t surprise me).
These turnips were destined for Italian Turnip Soup a dish I have made once before.The soup is very simple just turnips braised in butter and oil, subsequently cooked in a good stock, thickened with a half cupful of arborio rice.
I think the first version I made of this soup, using ‘normal’ ie widely available English white round turnips, was definitely sweeter. Not that the flavour of this version was unpleasant, just different. I suspect that these turnips would be much tastier served as a Japanese style pickle. I’m thinking that the recipe I used to make radish pickles would work just as well for turnips.
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