shelidonDecember 13, 2023Leave a Comment

Ingredients (serves 4 people):

• 300 grams of turnips cut into chunks;
• 190 grams of parsnips also cut into chunks;
• 1 golden onion, sliced;
• 1 litre of vegetable stock (see further ingredients, as I refuse to let you buy pre-prepared broth);
• 115 grams of coarse-ground almonds;
• 500 ml of cream;
• a pinch of salt;
• 2 tablespoons of butter;
• one branch of fresh thyme
• 4 pinches of chives (optional).

For the broth:

• 1 carrot;
• 1 stalk of celery;
• 1 onion;
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil;
• fresh parsley;
• 1 bay leaf;
• a pinch of salt;
• 300 ml of water.

Recipe:

For the broth:

You’ll have to prepare this in advance, so I give it to you before. It’s easy if you don’t get distracted, which means it’s difficult for me.

Chop the vegetables into chunks, heat the oil in a pan and then throw them in with the parsley and bay leaf, stirring frequently until they’re brown and soft (let’s say, five minutes). Then add the salt, the water, bring it to a boil and forget all about it. That’s the easiest part. Let it simmer on a lower flame for around 30 minutes, add a pinch of salt and your broth is done. Strain it, and place the vegetables aside: they’re boiled; you can eat them if you’re not feeling well, or you can find something to cook with them. Do not discard them as certain recipes say. There’s nothing wrong with them.

For the soup:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and then add the chopped onions and parsnips. Cook until the vegetables are lightly caramelized around the edges, for around 4 to 6 minutes, and then add the thyme.

Add the turnips, the broth, a pinch of salt and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat just as you did for the previous broth and cook everything until the turnips are tender. It should take around 20 minutes.

Remove the thyme and add the cream. You’ll want to add the almonds last, leaving them almost raw. A pinch of chives in each bowl might also be used for garnish.

What’s a parsnip, precious?

It’s a root vegetable closely related to carrot and parsley, in Italian we call it pastinaca and… yeah, it’s not really a thing around here anymore, even if the term is Latin and it seemed to be highly appreciated in Roman times, up to the point that Emperor Tiberius accepted part of the tribute from the German provinces in the form of parsnips. Bonvesin da la Riva in his Marvels of Milan (1288) lists the roots amongst the “delicacies” you can enjoy in my city. We’ve come a long way since then.
In Roman times, parsnips were believed to be an aphrodisiac. Nowadays, they are fed to pigs, particularly those bred to make Parma ham, and maybe we can start to believe in the transitive property of love.

Turnips, on the other hand…

Turnips were an important food in the Hellenistic and Roman world, and they travelled far: spreading first to China, they reached Japan by 700 AD. It’s a winter vegetable, usually harvested between January and February, and thus has inspired many popular sayings surrounding their ability to be made stronger by adversities, a characteristic that played well with the Roman’s military propaganda. Marziale himself told us they were Romolus’ favourite food in the afterlife.

According to Plinius, turnips were an aphrodisiac and I’m starting to wonder if this was wishful thinking, since everything seems to have this property if we listen to him.

A German legend tells us that a demon of the night was taking advantage of the sun’s absence to court his fiancée, a Princess, and kidnapped her. Since the woman was lonely, and wished to have some company, the night demon uprooted some turnips and, upon touching them with his magic, turned them into beautiful maidens. They were short-lived, however, and only lasted for the time the root kept its juice.
When the first of them died, the Princess turned the girl back into a bee and sent her to warn the Sun that they were being held captive, but the bee never returned.
When the second one died, the Princess turned her into a cricket and sent her off with the same errand, but she too never came back.
The third one was turned into a stork, and was ultimately successful: she came back with her betrothed, but they both had to flee from the demon. In order to gain some time, the Princess asked him how many turnips he had in his garden, and the demon was forced to count all of them, and this is how the demon is known as Rübezahl, the one who counts turnips. The remaining turnip was turned into a horse, and this is how the Princess was able to flee with the Sun.