Turnip cakes and Beet puree

This is what I made last week and the results were so good that I had to share them with you. If you have any turnips left---

TURNIP CAKES

Steam or simmer cut up turnips until soft enough to pierce. Mash them or run them through a food
processor. Mix with butter or margarine and
add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in one beaten egg.
Add bread crumbs or instant potato flakes (I use
Barbara's brand instant mashed potatoes) to
make the cakes thicken. Form into cakes
and coat with break crumbs. Heat some olive oil in a skillet and fry the cakes, browning first on one side than the other (to state the obvious) I sprinkled them with paprika to give them a tastier appearance. You can add other
seasonings you like. These are good hot or at room temperature.
I served these with beet puree.

BEET PUREE

Steam or simmer cut up beets until soft. These take longer than the turnips to
get soft. Cook with the skins on to retain as much color as possible. The skins will slide off easily when the beets are cooked and cooled. Since I had beets from two weeks, I
set aside half for pickling and used the other amount for the puree.

In a food processor, I added about a half cup of cashews to the cooked beets
and processed them while gradually adding a couple tablespoons of olive oil. The result should be a soft puree similar to pesto. Season with salt and pepper. I think that other nuts would work equally well. This is a memory of a dish that I had awhile ago at the home of a friend from the Republic of Georgia.

The combination of the beets and turnips was very nice.

bon appetit
mim