French Turnip Soup and Salmon Pinwhat?

I came across Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches at the recent library sale. Every autumn the local library has a huge sale to reduce the books that rarely get checked out, and to allow the community to clean their shelves of books and load back up again for the long Michigan winter.

As soon as I entered the large annex, I headed straight to the cooking area and carefully picked out "the good stuff." This was one of the good books - though there were plenty of gourmet microwave books to be had if you were so gullible. Not me.

The French Turnip Soup on page 12 caught my attention, perhaps because it also included slices of white bread. I never buy white bread anymore. Ever.

Looking through the book, I also found some intriguing sandwich recipes, and settled on the Salmon Pinwheels on page 80. They looked beautiful and somewhat daunting. And they also called for white bread, which Ivan inspected.

The soup was really easy to prepare, though I have to say, once in the liquid, the bread transformed into something icky. Take a look at this:

Mmmmmmm gelatinous white bread.

At the same time I worked on Salmon Pinwheels. I just wanted to see if I could make them look nice. And, besides with all the butter involved, I was sure it would be worth it.

I used a rolling pin to flatten the bread, slather on the flavored butter, and top with smoked salmon. Then I rolled the whole thing up cigar style. And quickly understood why the recipe called for a large, uncut loaf of white bread: length would make a difference here.

I soldiered on and buttered the outside and rolled the whole thing around in chopped parsley. And had myself an aesthetic failure:

I made regular sandwiches with the remainder of the flattened bread, and served along with the turnip soup.

The parsley-covered roll was odd, kind of tickly to eat. Not a fan. But the regular sandwiches were yummy. I wish there was more flavor to them, like a mayonnaise or curry. The soup is fabulous, and you don't notice the funky white bread at all; if I'd used a good quality French white bread, this would be even better.

Both recipes adapted from Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches.

Salmon Pinwheels (or Not)
2 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons parsley, finely minced
1 scallion, finely diced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a shake or so of cayenne pepper

Mix the butter and 1 tablespoon of the parsley with the scallion and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

If you want to attempt a cigar-shaped log, flatten the bread with a rolling pin. If you want a regular sandwich, don't bother. Either way, slather one side with smoked salmon and top with another piece of bread.

For the sandwich log, roll the bread kind of like a jelly roll. Then butter the outside and roll the whole thing around in parsley. The recipe in the book suggests that you wrap this in plastic wrap and chill two hours, then cut into small pinwheels. Too fussy for me!

You will have extra butter and smoked salmon left over, and will have to find some way to use it all up. I'm thinking a morning omelette or evening frittata might be the way to go.

French Turnip Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound white turnips, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
5 cups stock - chicken or vegetable
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
4 oz green peas
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch nutmeg

Heat butter in large saucepan. Add turnips and onion, and cook 10 minutes or more until they begin to soften. Add stock and butter and simmer 25 minutes or until the turnups are soft to the fork. Puree. Add peas, season with salt and pepper and add nutmeg.

Crabby Corn Soup

I picked up my copy of Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches at the recent library sale, and piled it onto the other cookbooks. Hungry for something to cook, I grabbed the book as I headed to the laundromat to wash the bed linens.

Once the comforters and sheets were slurshing around in the commercial washer I perused the cookbook and found the Crab and Corn Soup on page 31. It looked easy and simple, so I added it to my "Make This Soon" list.

(I have no idea what "slursh" means, but I like the way it sounds. I also do not keep a "Make This Soon List" although  perhaps I should add a list like that to my Remember The Milk account.)

I noticed a few odd things about the cookbook. First, it was hard to understand how the soups were organized. Sure, there is a table of contents, but when you're looking through the book, there's no chapter titles to indicate that you've moved from vegetable & exotic soups to creamy soups. Same thing's true of the sandwiches.

The index is also seriously lacking. It merely lists the titles of the various recipes, not the actual ingredients - which would be more helpful to any reader searching for a recipe to prepare quickly.

Likewise, I found the sandwich area not...lunchable. These seem more like canapes, finger food, little nibbles for parties, rather than something to sustain me through a busy work day. And with a subtitle like "Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches," I was surprised to find so many recipes with multiple steps; for example, the Salmon Pinwheels I made involved a rolling pin, rolling bread, and a two hour waiting period. Finally the recipe ingredients are sometimes vague: what "mixed herbs" do the authors mean? I have no idea.

And with two authors who are "home economists" -an outdated term if there ever has been one- I was wary. I shouldn't have been.

The Crab and Corn Soup was easy, tasty, and I imagine wholesome as well. It was definitely a quick soup to prepare, and a nice twist on your typical egg drop soup. I substituted shrimp for the crab with no problem. I was stymied with the "small piece of gingerroot" because what do the authors mean by small? I guessed.

One small chunk of gingerroot.

Ingredients: egg, cornstarch, scallions, shrimp

Finished Soup

Despite the general oddness of the book, I enjoyed this soup. I could have added more gingerroot. I also like that each recipe has a photograph that clearly illustrates what the finished product should look like. As a bonus, many soups have a suggested accompaniment recipe. For example, the Cream of Cauliflower Soup on page 27 also offers a recipe to make Cheese Snippets to flat in the soup, while the Cream of Carrot Soup on the same page has Herb Croutons (with one teaspoon of "dry herbs" as the flavoring.)

Crab and Corn Soup

3 3/4 cup chicken stock
1 small piece gingerroot, peeled
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 15oz can creamed corn
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
4 oz crab (or shrimp) chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 scallions, minced

In a large saucepan, combine stock and gingerroot. Simmer 15 minutes. Remove gingerroot and stir in soy sauce, sherry, and creamed corn. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, blend cornstarch and water. Stir in stock mixture. Stir in crab (or shrimp) and heat until mixture thickens.

Bring mixture to a slow simmer and slowly pour in beaten eggs in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Do not allow soup to boil. Garnish soup with sliced green onions. Makes 4 to 6 servings.