Turnips

For the most part, Dan and I try new recipes a lot. We are always searching for a new "favorite" to add to our weekly menu. Last week's favorite was Curried Potato and Vegetable Soup, which I have to give Dan major props for cooking because it included (eek!) summer squash. I convinced him that he would never know it was in the soup because of the heavy curry seasoning, and I was right. Despite the fact that the soup had 1 of his most detested foods (others include sweet potatoes and eggplant), it was YUMMY and we plan to make it again.

This week, we were both willing to try a vegetable we'd never had--turnips. Dan put a Scalloped Turnip Bake together and while it cooked in the oven, we had wonderful, chunky salads and a bottle of red wine. As the smell of the bake permeated the whole apartment, our mouths watered. I became even more excited with anticipation when we looked up turnips on Wikipedia to find out their nutritional value: "Turnips are high in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Potassium and Copper." How could something so nutritional smell so good? Well, as it turns out: it doesn't. What smelled good was the butter, cream, and onions. Neither Dan nor I could finish the scalloped turnip bake. Those turnips had such a bite to them that I felt the back of my throat gag as I tried to finish my plate. Dan tried coating his in parmesan cheese, to no avail. We were both totally dissappointed, but Rocco loved it. But Rocco also eats poop.

I have to wonder, Did we have bad turnips? Do they truly taste that bad? Does anyone have a better recipe that is more complimentary to that bitter taste? I'm not sure if we are willing to try them again, but for their nutritional value, I feel we should give it a shot. Any suggestions? Or does everyone else loathe turnips, too?