Do you think it would it be possible to make that Buttered Turnip Porridge the Kul Tiran innkeepers always have in stock?
You know, I actually DID try that! Turnips, as Mists of Pandaria indicates, are a bit of a divisive food, because they taste unbearably bitter to some palates. Fortunately for me, I don't have that sensitivity (but I do have the cilantro-tastes-like-soap gene. Sadness), so I can tell you that turnips have an earthy, sweet taste with a slight radishy spiciness, and while my experiments weren't anything I would have recommended to a Warchefs reader, they weren't at all unpleasant. Still, I'm going to impart a very simple soup recipe here, that I'm sure can be applied to turnips if you'd ever like to try it out and should somewhat approximate the dish in-game. I've made this with other vegetables like carrots and mushrooms and potatoes, and it's very satisfying.
-- In a saucepan, fry some chopped onion in butter or oil until the onion turns slightly translucent. Throw in some aromatic spices of choice (black pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic) if you like. Once you're there, add your chopped vegetables of choice and saute them a little along with the onion to cook them partway, and then sprinkle over some kosher salt, and pour in water or soup stock to cover the vegetables and bring to a boil.
Once it boils, lower to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are soft enough to pierce easily with a fork, then turn off the heat and either puree in batches in a blender, OR use an immersion blender in the saucepan itself. If you like some texture in your soup, reserve some of the cooked vegetables and onions while you blend the rest and then add them again. Taste your soup, season to your liking with salt, and add a bit of complementary acid to brighten the flavor (lemon or lime juice, or vinegar).
This is a really great way to use up produce, and if you add a bit of cream near the end, you can serve it as a first course at a nice party and no one will ever know that it took nearly no effort to make!
