Seasonal Cooking: Interesting Things To Do with Turnips

Turnips, on their own, don't look particularly interesting. They're not kohlrabi or daikon (maybe Asian vegetables just sound more interesting?) and we often think the humble turnip is outshone by its greens, which are sassy and spicy. Many of the recipes we see for turnips involve boiling and mashing them with potato, almost as if they were potatoes. But turnips are not potatoes! They have that slightly bitter-but-sweet flavor that we do, indeed, love, and we found some recipes that are anything but boring...

Of course, you can always roast turnips as you would any root vegetable (we did ours the other night with beets and brussels sprouts) or shove them under a roast chicken as it cooks. But we thought these recipes looked interesting and different:

Pancetta and Sesame Coated Turnips (wedges that are fried and then baked- yum), from Bon Appétit

Risotto with Turnips and Bacon, from Gourmet

Indian-Spiced Turnips, from Tigers and Strawberries

Cream of Celery and Turnip Soup, from Stephen Cooks

Root Vegetable Stew with Cumin, Coriander, and Millet, from Tom Valenti, via Leites Culinaria

Turnip, Apple, and Jerusalem Artichoke Soup, from Serious Eats

How do you like to cook turnips?

(Image: Flickr member nizoz, licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (9)

oooh! i love turnips! they're great roasted, as mentioned above, and i always always always cube them and put them in chicken soup. They have a slight sweetness that works great in soup!

posted by mh330 on October 24th 2008 at 11:09am
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Sweet and sour turnips--

chopped turnips sauteed and then cooked in port wine and red wine vinegar with a little sugar.

posted by art on October 24th 2008 at 11:13am
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I make turnips (and radishes, or the awesome harukei turnips in early summer) similar to art, above.
Sautee in a butter/olive oil mixture, then add wine, vinegar, and maybe a bit of sugar or honey.

posted by laura c on October 24th 2008 at 1:28pm
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Young turnips are delicious raw; grate them into a salad with carrots and a mustardy vinaigrette.

posted by sjbreeze on October 24th 2008 at 7:28pm
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OMIGAWD IT'S A GIGANTIC TURNIP NIPPLE!

posted by KrapArtist on October 24th 2008 at 11:41pm
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turnipple!

(sorry, couldn't resist!)

posted by KrapArtist on October 24th 2008 at 11:43pm
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diced up with white and sweet potatoes,a little bit of onion, and fried into hash browns.

posted by Kate (NC) on October 25th 2008 at 12:00pm
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Growing up turnips were a more coveted treat than candy. Don't know why....excellent child psychology on the part of my parents.

posted by hdtex on October 26th 2008 at 12:45pm
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I love turnips and eat them in soups, steamed, roasted or as part of a big moroccon couscous. We also use the turnip greens and make them into soup:
http://13desserts.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/a-good-soup/>
The sweet and sour recipe sound great, too!

posted by 13desserts on October 27th 2008 at 1:30am
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