December 05, 2024 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Scarlet Turnips

 

What's In The Box

Sweet Scarlet Turnips: So as not to confuse sweet scarlet turnips with red daikon radishes, please note that scarlet turnips are more round in shape and have a pink skin. When you cut them open, you’ll find mostly white flesh with some pink streaks. We think scarlet turnips are mild, sweet, and well-balanced in flavor. They may be eaten raw, but given they are a storage turnip, they are most often eaten cooked. Add them to soups, stews, gratins and even curry dishes.

Red Daikon Radish: We like this daikon radish variety because of its compact size, gorgeous exterior and the mild, slightly sweet, and not bitter at all flesh! Enjoy thinly sliced or shredded daikon as a condiment with meals, add it to stir-fry, or pickle it! Note, the red daikon radishes are long and slender in shape.

Red Onions: We are coming to the end of our storage onions and in just two short months from now we’ll be preparing to plant next year’s onion crop! Enjoy these red onions thinly sliced on sandwiches, mixed in with shredded cabbage for a fresh slaw, or add them to a jar of your own pickled carrots, daikon, or turnips!

Italian Garlic: Infuse your winter meals with the flavor of garlic, adding a bit of minced garlic to the base of your dishes, infusing the garlic flavor into soups and stews, or use it in its raw form to make a batch of kale pesto!

Mursaki Japanese Sweet Potatoes: This week we are sending white-fleshed Japanese sweet potatoes. The skin on this variety is pinkish purple, but the flesh is white when raw and turns to more of a creamy-yellow color when cooked. The flesh is moist, sweet and flavorful, good simply baked and served with salt, pepper and butter!

 

Orange Carrots: Carrots have been a staple vegetable for us throughout the season, and we’re grateful they are storing well and available to sustain us through the winter months. They are also very versatile in their uses, so if you reach a point where you just don’t know what to do with them, refer to our recipe inspiration below for some different and perhaps a bit unconventional ways to prepare carrots!

Purple Majesty or Peter Wilcox Potatoes: This week you will receive one of these two potato varieties. Purple majesty potatoes have a dark purple skin, so dark they may look black instead of purple. The flesh is also a purple, but a bit lighter in color and more vibrant. Peter Wilcox potatoes also have a purple skin, although a little lighter in color and the flesh is gold. Both varieties are waxy types, best suited for roasting, pan-frying, frying, or boiling.

 

Autumn Frost or Butternut Squash: This week we’re packing either Autumn Frost or Butternut squash for you, both of which may be used interchangeably! Store your squash in a cool location, above 55°F. If you notice some wrinkling on the skin, it’s likely just a sign of dehydration. The flesh inside is still good, but you should use it sooner than later!

Jester Squash or Black Futsu Pumpkin: This will be our final delivery for these two unique varieties. The jester squash is characterized by its oblong shape, ridges on its exterior and beautiful green and orange markings on a cream background. Black Futsu pumpkins are shaped like a pumpkin and have a brown skin. The flesh is lean, sweet, and delicious!

Green Curly Kale Tops: This will be the final delivery of greens, and possibly the best tasting kale of the year as it has been sweetened by multiple frosts! We harvested the tops off the kale plants last week before the temperatures dropped. Strip the leaves off the ribs and use them to make baked kale chips; chop it and add to soups, stews, curry dishes; or turn it into kale pesto!

Green Savoy Cabbage: With the warm fall we had, our green savoy cabbage came in a few weeks ahead of schedule. We crossed our fingers and hoped they would store well for the next nine weeks or so because we wanted them for your December shares! Well, here we are, and the cabbages stored pretty well! Now we’re turning the storage responsibilities over to you! Keep your cabbage loosely wrapped in plastic or a moist cloth bag and in the refrigerator. If you are only using a portion of the head at one time, cover the cut side, and store it in the refrigerator.

Recipe Suggestions & Inspiration For This Week’s Box Contents

Middle Eastern Pickled Turnips

Persian Turnip Soup

Apple Turnip Quiche

Cornish Pasties (Hand Pies)

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping

Herb Roasted Sweet Potato and Turnip Skillet

One-Pot Carrot Curry

Japanese Carrot Ginger Dressing

Creamy Carrot Pasta Sauce

Chickpea & Carrot “Meatballs”

Carrot Cake Coffee Cake

Carrot Halwa, Indian Carrot Pudding

Smoked Carrot “Lox”

Kale Pesto

How To Make Kale Chips

Black Bean & Kale Quesadillas

Roasted Savoy Cabbage

Winter Slaw

Winter Cabbage Salad with Apples & Cranberries

Butternut Squash Galette with Goat Cheese & Sage

Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta Squash

Rosemary Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza

Homemade Crispy Purple Potato Chips

Ultra Crispy Smashed Potatoes

Roasted Japanese Sweet Potatoes with Miso Maple Tahini

Quick & Easy Pickled Daikon Radish

Vegetable Feature: Scarlet Turnips

Storage turnips more dense and have a stronger flavor than the tender, mild baby white salad turnips we grow in the spring and early fall. We grow two different colors of storage turnips including the classic and familiar purple top turnips and the stunning bright pink sweet scarlet turnips. Purple top turnips have the strongest turnip flavor while sweet scarlet turnips are more mild. 

Preparation & Usage: Turnips are part of the Brassica family and, like many other vegetables in this family, it’s important not to overcook them thereby releasing those strong sulfur compounds that can be strong and unpleasant. Turnips are seldom a featured vegetable in a meal, rather they play their greatest role by hanging out in the shadows of your culinary creations. If you’re still learning how to use and appreciate turnips, use them in recipes where they are combined with other ingredients as opposed to being cooked on their own. Turnips pair well with apples, cheese, cider, cream, garlic, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, and lemon as well as other root vegetables, bacon, ham and roast beef. They make a delicious addition to winter soups, stews, root vegetable gratins, root mash and pot pies. Turnips are also a great vegetable to use in a winter stir-fry, or pickle them and use them as a condiment for sandwiches or alongside rich meats, etc.

Storage Tips: Turnips have the ability to store for months (literally!) in cold storage. They should be stored in a plastic bag or container in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. I seldom peel turnips, however if you find their flavor to be more pungent than your liking, peeling may help decrease some of the characteristic turnip bite. Also, with extended time in storage you may find some turnips may develop some browning due to oxidation or some surface scarring, which is sometimes a reason to peel the turnip. The defect is often only on the surface and the rest of the turnip is totally usable. If your turnips start to dehydrate a little bit in storage, either re-hydrate them in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator or cut them up and put them in a stew or soup.

Health & Nutrition: Turnips have great nutritional benefits. They are high in vitamin C and fiber and are packed with many more nutrients like calcium, phosphorus, folic acid and magnesium, essential for all-round development of the human body. They are low in calories making them a great substitute for potatoes or other high carb foods.

Indian Root Vegetable Curry 

Yield:  4 servings

I don’t know that this recipe qualifies as authentic Indian cuisine.  Perhaps it is more appropriate to say it is Indian-Inspired.  The author of this recipe describes this dish as “hearty and humble but over-the-top with flavor.”  While it calls for carrots and turnips, it may easily be adapted to include other root vegetables throughout the winter. The warm spices are also great immune boosters along with the ginger and garlic to help keep you strong and health throughout the winter!  You may also choose to build upon the basic recipe by adding in beans or legumes such as chickpeas, or if you eat meat you may choose to add chicken, fish or pork to the dish.

Photo from www.fromachefskitchen.com

2 Tbsp oil

1 medium onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp ginger, minced

1 Tbsp ground turmeric

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 cups vegetable broth

1 can (15-ounce) coconut milk

3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 medium turnips, cubed

1 bunch turnip greens or kale, coarsely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cooked Brown Basmati Rice, for serving

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, reduce heat to medium and cook 4-5 minutes or until beginning to soften.  Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander and cayenne.  Stir briefly (approximately 30 seconds) or until fragrant.
2. Add the vegetable broth, coconut milk, carrots, and turnips. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
3. Add the greens in handfuls if necessary, allowing each to wilt and simmer until tender. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
4. Serve with hot rice. 

Recipe sourced from www.fromachefskitchen.com/indian-root-vegetable-curry.