PRETTY IN PINK: Turnips To Die For

Maybe it's the Cyndi Lauper phase I've been in recently, or maybe it's because hot pink is secretly my favorite color (even though I usually tell people it's yellow). Whatever the reason, I needed to buy hot pink turnips at the farmers' market last week as soon as I saw them. Hot Pink! Turnips? Irresistible!

That sly Mother Earth - luring us to eat our veggies, creating such beauties in amazingly illuminated, near-fluorescent tones. Turning an ordinary day into a day that has me counting down the minutes until I get to eat turnips, she really put a turnip spell on me this time.

Once at home, I did some quick reading to familiarize myself with my new ingredient. I liked learning about how they can be grated raw into salads - an especially good use, I thought, for such magnificent-looking ones as these. It would be a shame to lose any ounce of pinkified pigment to the cooking process. One salad I glanced at called for some grated turnip and grated granny smith apple, yum!

However, since there were no grannies in the house, I decided to go the mashed route. Another turnip fave. I cut up a few turnips, leaving their bright skin unpeeled and untouched. I also quickly chopped half of a peeled celery root that I had in the fridge. I boiled all the veggies until I could pierce them easily with a fork. Then I just drained, added a pat of butter, some salt and pepper, mashed, and they were done. I must say, they were the flirtiest mashed veggie dish that I have ever eaten - blushing a rosy hue. A perfect belated Valentine's side dish.

Flax oil or yogurt would have been a nice substitution for the butter, I thought. And some fresh herbs could have livened it up a smidge. The wheels in my mind turned thinking of all the ways I can accessorize my turnips in the future, whether they be hot pink or not, mashed or unmashed. One thing was clear, a great appreciation of turnips had emerged without a doubt.

The hot pink turnip certainly is a real looker - and mighty fine in the taste department too. Not bad, not bad at all.