At root. Turnips are delicious. Who knew?
Beautiful white turnips from Red Wagon Organic Farm were certainly the most eye-catching produce at Saturday’s market, so into the bag they went. I’ve always thought that most of the white root vegetables go through life wishing that they were potatoes: turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, yucca and so on; all can seem sweetish and insipid, and are too often consumed more out of necessity than pleasure. With a closed mind, I’ve never cooked a turnip before, and have only vague memories of eating them, British-style, overcooked and mashed with butter.
Mario Batali to the rescue: a quick web search turned up an interesting recipe on the food network.
Adapted from Batali’s Pan-Roasted Turnips with Poppy and Paprika
This is a great dish: the vinegar and paprika balance the sweetness of the turnips, and the poppy seed adds a nice crunch.
- ~1 1/2 pounds turnips
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 Tb butter
- 2 Tb poppy seeds
- 1 Tb paprika, not smoked
- 4 Tb red wine vinegar
Remove tops and clean turnips with a vegetable brush. Mario quarters them, but the resulting chunks looked too big, so I halved each again. Season with salt and pepper. Heat butter over medium-high heat until it starts to brown, add turnips and poppy seeds and toss to coat. Cook until nicely browned, add paprika, then vinegar. Serve when vinegar is cooked away. Delicious.
Extra points for anyone who recognizes the serving dish.
Sources
Tags: Mario Batali, paprika, roasted, turnips
May 27th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
The Pan Roasted Turnips with Poppy & Paprika are served on a plate from the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. I can’t imagine I’ll get the extra points promised, since for me, it was no challenge at all. (My husband and I were married and had our reception at the Ahwahnee). Like many of the arts & crafts design elements there, the Ahwahnee china pattern is very distinct and memorable, even after all that champagne!