Monday, August 2, 2010

10 step Creamed Tipperary Turnip and Lemon Soup

An economic and versatile dish that can be served warm in winter or cold like a gazpacho as a summer starter.
Just make it a little thinner (i.e. less veg or more stock and milk) for the cold summer version.
Makes a lovely lunch, super supper or a winner of a dinner (sorry, I must have been a frustrated sub editor in a former life)














Ingredients
2 tbls margarine or unsalted butter
600 grm diced turnips peeled
400 grm  diced potatoes peeled
150 grm finely chopped fresh chives or green onion tops
900 ml  vegetable stock
700 ml  milk
2 tsp Akita - root parsely if available
1 tsp sea salt
Zest and juice from half a lemon

To Garnish
Option 1
2 Tbls Olive oil, 1 tsp Paprika, 1 Tbls chopped fresh parsley
Option 2
3 Tbls Sourcream, 1 tsp Lemonjuice, 1Tbls chopped chives
Method

1.Melt butter in a heavy bottomed pan

2.Add diced turnips, and saute over low heat for about 5-10 minutes or until softened, depends on the size.

3.Add potatoes, stir to coat with butter, then add chives, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring so that vegetables
 do not burn. If you don't stir, the spuds will burn.

4.Add veg stock, cover, and bring to a boil, Add lemon zest and salt - reduce heat

5.Then lower heat, and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes or until soft enough to puree.

6.Puree vegetable mixture with the milk by hand or in a blender

7.Remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice and most of chopped parsley, allow to infuse for 2 mins

8. Put Paprika into olive oil and whisk a little

9. Swirl in the olive oil and paprika mix (you could use the sourcream/lemonjuice/chives option instead) garnish with a little parsley

10. Serve with some soda bread and wallow in the adoration of friends and family

To Serve Cold: transfer puree to a large bowl, stir in remaining ingredients and chill for several hours.
garnish and serve.

======
It looks great as a dish. The usual is to serve with a sour cream whirl, but I found the swirl of red in Caldo Verde so appealing, and different, I decided to go with that - and it really adds to the meal in favour and in style.

The Turnip used in this was the Tipperary Turnip from Irish Seedsavers. This has proved to be a hardy, and very tasty variety.
Everyone who has tried it loves it, and older people remark on the peppery flavour that you don't get in modern varieties.

I also found it is a very, very hardy and insect resistant plant in comparison with western perfection suede. The Suedes took a bit of a hammering from caterpillars, slugs et al whereas the Tipp turnip required less attention and was nowhere near as susceptible

The Akita root parsley is an eastern European favorite I picked up from the real seed catalogue in the UK, a great new addition to their phenomenal range of unusual crops.
Both the leaf and root have a really rich, deep parsley flavour that brings the herb into a new dimension.
A realy good discovery.
Speaking of Caldo Verde, with space clearing in the garden I am looking forward to planting winter kale that I got from seedaholic up in Mayo - in particular the Cavolo Nero - a stunning black variety and they also threw in a dwarf blue type that I am looking forward to growing

I think it is great that with the right seeds and planning, a kitchen garden is not just a summer salad patch - but a year round resource.

I hope readers will give it a go, and please feel free to comment.
Time to feature Vladimira




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1 comment:

  1. Howya Simon great blog, some very interesting recipies there. Keep em coming.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting - its cool that you took the time