If you're the kind of cook who likes to introduce friends to foods they thought they could never like, then turnips are your root. The turnip, a cruciferous vegetable, is a cousin of the rutabaga (also called a yellow turnip and maybe even more disliked than its relative) and has been part of European, Asian, and Middle Eastern diets for centuries. They can be blanched and then glazed with butter and honey - and in this form are a great accompaniment to roast pork, sausages, or fowl - or pureed into silky soups, roasted, stuffed, pickled, or thinly sliced and eaten raw.
A little larger and sweeter than the common purple top turnip, Macomber turnips are a variety particular to the area around Dartmouth. It is said to be named for a couple of brothers who farmed in the area in the late 1800s and were experimenting with seed types. Today, farmers in the southeastern part of this state specialize in Macombers. One, 96-year-old Bob Motha, has been farming in South Dartmouth for 76 years. He sells hundreds of pounds of the root vegetables to wholesalers, storing them in his barn over the winter to extend the harvest. His caretaker, Dean Cornelison, says that the best way to eat Macombers is to peel and cube them, then "boil them like potatoes, mash with a fork, and add some butter." Some people add grated raw carrot to the mash, says Cornelison, 66, who likes them best plain.
Motha's Macombers are on the menu at Tosca in Hingham; chef Kevin Long will feature them on his Thanksgiving menu in a dish his mother always makes for the holiday - simmered and pureed with potatoes. "It goes over great every year," says Long, who likes working with Macombers because of their sweetness, size, and silky texture when cooked.
"You can run into some pretty fibrous purple tops," says the chef. This Thursday, he'll also use the more common turnip in a smooth soup simmered with ham bones and served with house-cured slices of crisp ham. "I'm double-turniping," he says. - LEIGH BELANGER
