stlbites.com – st. louis food blog of bill burge

Dinner: Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Dec 6, 2007 cooking, farmers' markets, groceries, slow food, sustainable agriculture

Alanna posted about glazed turnips the other day, and when I read her post, it occurred to me I still had a bunch of turnips buried deep within “MY FRIG, THE ROOT CELLAR” too. I’d bought them from Claverach Farms a couple months ago with no idea what I’d even do with them as I’d never actually cooked turnips before, but with my only recent memory eating them coming from Red, I felt they deserved a chance at glory on my dinner table.

Heading to the kitchen to dig them out I was concerned with how they would look roughly two months after purchasing them, and I was happy to see they appeared almost identical to when I’d tossed them in the fridge in the first place. It’s amazing how long some fruits and vegetables will last if stored properly, and as I pulled the turnips from the crisper, I took the opportunity to take stock of my other late market purchases.

Walker Claridge’s green onions from The Root Cellar were doing surprisingly well for being at least 6 weeks old as I’d washed them the minute I’d gotten them home and wrapped them in moist paper towels. I enjoyed using them all summer when he had them as they were a sort of two-fer: the green ends could be used as herbs in vinaigrettes, tacos, etc. and the bulby root ends were perfect for a light onion flavor in something like scrambled eggs; having almost a leek like flavor.

Celeriac from Berger Bluff Farms, which I’d swiped away from all my Slow Food friends by buying every single one on the last day of the Maplewood Farmers’ Market, looked exactly as I’d expected: unchanged and ugly as the day I bought them; wrapped safely in their plastic bag.

Chioggia Beets from Claverach Farms were maybe a touch soft after at least 6 weeks, and one giant chioggia from The Root Cellar looked precisely how it did the day I bought it as I’d cut the beet greens off and used them the night I’d brought it home ensuring it’s longevity.

With everything pulled out for inspection, it was then that I saw the several varieties of apples from Centennial Farms I’d completely forgotten about. A bit soft, they were definitely showing their age, and it was at then inspiration hit in the form of applesauce…applesauce on turnip-potato pancakes.

I’d never made applesauce before, but I’m also not one to use recipes most of the time, so winging it, I peeled and cored the three apples, diced them, and threw them into a pot with a cinnamon stick, maybe an 1/8 of a cup of brown sugar, about half that again of white sugar, a cinnamon stick, a dash of vanilla, salt, and about a 1/2 cup of water. With the hit of apples and cinnamon wafting from the kitchen, after about twenty five minutes, with everything looking looking sort of soft and gooey from the pectin, I hit it with the immersion blender and set it aside.

For protein, prior to discovering the turnips, I’d started a pork tenderloin marinating when I’d gotten home from work in a mix of apple butter; fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary; dried juniper berry, ginger, mace, all-spice, cinnamon, salt and pepper; and a splash of late harvest Riesling vinegar.

I’d also bought some green beans earlier that day as I’ve become fairly addicted to oven-roasted green beans after finding this recipe at Simple Recipes sometime last year. I don’t recall how I stumbled upon it, and I’ve never followed it to the letter; I always vary up the onion component based upon what I have on hand (shallots are especially good) and I don’t like balsamic vinegar. This time I went with a mixture of honey, sherry vinegar (my choice over balsamic), Sierra Nevada Stout Mustard (which is awesome), and lemon juice.

And finally, there were the turnip/potato pancakes which I made by boiling the turnips and one potato until soft; pureeing it in a food processor with one egg and about a 1/4 cup of flour; followed by folding in salt, pepper and scallions. As I was griddling them they were a touch loose as one egg was probably overkill for the amount I’d mixed up, but the flavor was there, and dinner was mostly a success…not quite triumphant.

So here you have it: Tuesday night’s dinner.

Centennial Farms Apple Butter rubbed (supposedly local) pork tenderloin from Whole Foods, Claverach Farms turnip and potato pancakes, Mixed Centennial Farms applesauce, oven-roasted green beans topped with Esther’s honey-mustard vinaigrette…or something like that

[view flickr photo set]

Tags: apple-butter, applesauce, Centennial Farms, Claverach Farms, dinner, Maplewood Farmers Market, pork-tenderloin, turnips