Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard... Turnip Time

I've had a steady supply of turnips for about two months.  I'm not drowning in them, but every week brings about two or three turnips.  Normally I boil them and mash them like potatoes and add a bit of butter with salt and pepper.  After a couple of weeks, it was time to try something new.

So this week, my recipe attempt is a turnip soufflé.  I have never made a souffle before and went into this recipe completely naive about the difficulties of falling soufflés.  I also decided to alter the recipe because I thought it required way too much butter.  I cut the butter in half, but didn't change the amount of flour and as I was cooking thought that this might be a problem.  I also replaced the heavy cream with 2% milk.  I'm posting the original recipe since I'm no soufflé expert.

Turnip Soufflé

SERVES 4 – 6

This recipe is from Clementine Paddleford's classic How America Eats (Scribner, 1960).

3 medium turnips, peeled, trimmed, and diced
4 tbsp. butter
4 tbsp. flour
1⁄3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. yellow onion, peeled and minced
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
4 eggs, separated


1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 6-cup soufflé dish with 1 tsp. butter, dust with flour (tap out excess), and set aside.
2. Boil turnips in a pot of salted water over high heat until soft, 8–10 minutes; drain well and mash until smooth. Melt remaining butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in cream and mashed turnips and cook until thick, about 5 minutes.
3. Add onions and salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste. Remove pot from heat and gradually stir in egg yolks. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and set aside.
4. Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form, gently fold into turnip mixture, and spoon into prepared dish. Bake until puffed and golden, 35–40 minutes.

This is how mine turned out:

With a not so happy looking face in the center!  I am still no soufflé expert, but I thought it was fluffy and yummy.  I definitely don't taste turnips in this recipe, so if your tired of turnips and have a pile of them, you should try this recipe.

If you want to peak into other kitchens and see what others are cooking, head over to Thursday’s Kitchen Cupboard at the Gardener of Eden.