What's the deal with turnips?

I still have a wretched cold but have started cooking from the couch in 20 minute bursts of energy. I have decided that on weekends, I am Mastering the Art of French Cooking but on weekdays I am Modernising the Art of French Cooking. So when Julia requests veal mince with pork fat and ham, I will acccept the perfectly adequate substitute of mixed pork and veal mince. Of course, I reserve the right to take short cuts on weekends.

Menu:

Fricadelles de Veau

Choux de Bruxelles a la Milanese (with broccoli instead of Brussels Sprouts)

Carottes aux Fines Herbes

Navets À L'Étuvée

The good news? The veal patties taste fantastic. The bad news? What is the deal with turnips? To me they tasted really bitter. Le Gourmand was less critical but thought that they usually taste better mashed with another flavour. There is a turnip casserole recipe in the book that Julia says brings most people around when they don't like turnips. I think I will have to cook that next because turnips braised in chicken stock and butter is not my cup of tea. All turnip advice will be gratefully received so please let me know if you have any good ideas?

The carrots were yummy - cooked in water, butter, sugar, salt and pepper and then had fresh herbs and butter added at the end.

The broccoli was prepared in the same way that we prepared the Brussels sprouts on the weekend but there was less baking time until I added some emmenthel cheese and parmesan at the end and baked it for another ten minutes. It tasted awesome because of the cheese.

The veal patties involved a bit more effort than I usually make - softening half a cup of minced onion then adding two peeled, deseeded, diced tomatoes, a clove of garlic and some basil and cooking that down, then adding this to half a kilo of mince, parsley, salt and pepper, a cup of milk soaked breadcrumbs and egg before forming patties. These were refrigerated then browned on each side before cooking slowly in the pan for 15 minutes. The pan was then deglazed with two thirds of a cup of beef stock and cooked down with a little enrichening butter at the end. The result was delicious.

Le Gourmand was less sold on the Aubergines Farcies Duxelles (Eggplant stuffed with mushrooms) the next night. I loved mine - the eggplants were baked and most of the flesh scooped out and mixed with lightly cooked minced mushrooms, softened onion, cream cheese, parsley and seasoning - but there were too many mushrooms for Le Gourmand. One variation I recommend is that in the final roasting, the eggplants should be roasted on a tray rather than roasting in a small amount of water, if you like the flavour of roasted eggplant, as I do. We both enjoyed our Haricots Verts a la Creme - let's face it, what's not to like about green beans blanched, tossed in butter and simmered down with a little cream?