Lebanese Pickled Turnips (p. 282)

It seems fitting for me to pickle things during my pregnancy. Right? So pickled turnips, here we come.

The part that always makes me nervous about pickling things is the sterilization -- it's so easy for things to go wrong. I followed directions to a tee, boiling water and pouring it into the jar and letting it sit for 10 minutes. I also topped the lid into the remaining of the boiling water during the ten minutes.

After that, this recipe is stress free. I cut up large pieces of turnips and beets to be layered into the jar.

Then just add salt and a mixture of vinegar and water and close the jar tightly. Flip the jar every few days to re-distribute the salt. 

The pickles are ready to eat in 7 to 10 days, or can be kept longer if refrigerated. 

They become an amazing pink color, and are actually pretty tasty. 

I think I'll bring them to a 4th of July cookout on Monday to add some festive color to our eats.

turnips -- $3.27

beet -- $.92

Total Cost of Lebanese Pickled Turnips: $4.19

($.42 per serving)

Turkish-Style Oven-Braised Winter Vegetables (p. 343)

This is a really simple recipe to throw together, if you're the kind of person who's in to braised veggies. I'm not, really, but with enough salt and pepper pretty much anything can be good.

The only stove-top cooking needed is for the beans -- I had soaked mine over night and then cooked them in water and olive oil for about an hour, until they were nice and tender.

For the rest of the veggies, you can use pretty much whatever you have on hand. I chopped up carrots, celery, a turnip and a potato and put them in an oven-proof dish with some salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Pour in some boiling water and cook in the oven until the veggies are all cooked, about half an hour.

Sprinkle with chopped scallions and mix in the cooked beans.

We ate this at room temperature (which the cookbook recommends), and it was okay. I had leftovers for lunch today that I heated up and I liked that quite a bit more. Cold beans just don't do it for me.  Luckily, a perfectly cooked steak with garlic-butter sauce filled us right up.

white beans -- $2.49

celery -- $3.99

carrots --$1.29

potato -- $.69

turnip -- $1.23

scallions -- $.99

(with plenty of beans, celery, and carrots leftover)

Total Cost of Turkish-Style Oven-Braised Winter Vegetables: $10.68

($2.14 per serving)

Pasta al Pomodoro (p. 195) with Gratin of Purple-Topped Turnips (p. 340)

Tonight was the night that Matt and I found out that we don't like turnips. But first, Pasta al Pomodoro!

This is pretty similar to the other pasta dishes that have tomato-based sauces that I've created -- in this case the sauce is made by sautéing onion (I used red, because that's what I had on hand), garlic, and minced parsley in olive oil. Once the veggies have softened, add canned whole tomatoes that have been chopped up as well as dried oregano. Raise the heat and continue cooking the sauce for about 20 minutes until its consistency is jammy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta according to its directions. Once it is al dente, stir in parmigiano reggiano cheese, top with the sauce, and add more cheese. Tada!

This sauce was very tasty and a tiny bit spicy (probably due to the red onion.) We both quite enjoyed it.

What we did not enjoy, on the other hand, was the Gratin of Purple-Topped Turnips. They had so much promise, but alas.

In case you actually like turnips, here's how they were prepared -- scrub the turnips and cut them into thin slices. Put these in a pan of boiling water to cook for about 7 minutes, until tender. Remove the turnip slices from the water and place them in a lightly oiled gratin dish.

In a saucepan, cook finely chopped shallot and garlic in olive oil. When the veggies are cooked, add veggie stock and and parsley and bring the stock to a boil. Pour the contents of the pan over the turnip slices and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Cover the gratin dish with aluminum foil and cook for about 25 minutes before basting the turnips with more of the liquid and cooking for five more minutes.

I suppose it's possible that if you like turnips you might enjoy this dish, but I can't really fathom it.

Luckily we filled up on pasta and then apple pie and vanilla ice cream, so we can't complain.

canned tomatoes -- $1.39

Total Cost of Pasta al Pomodoro: $1.39

turnips -- $.81

shallots -- $2.19

Total Cost of Gratin of Purple-Topped Turnips: $3.00