Glazed Poppy Seed Turnips Recipe
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Glazed carrots—when they’re cooked to tender in a butter-water mixture and finished with a pinch of sugar—are always a crowd-pleaser. Here we take that method and apply it to oft-underappreciated turnips. And once the turnips are fork tender, we toss them with a poppy seed vinaigrette that makes the dish a versatile side for anything from corned beef to roasted lamb or pork.
What to buy: Younger turnips are subtly sweet with a tinge of mustard flavor, while older turnips can carry a strong bite. So depending on the age of your turnips, the flavor in this dish may vary from slightly to very piquant.
This recipe was featured as part of our Make Your Own Corned Beef story.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick), cut into small pieces
- 1 cup water
- 4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Arrange turnips in a single layer in a 5-quart Dutch oven or a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Dot butter over top, add water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered, stirring rarely, until all the water has evaporated, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, salt, and pepper in a small, nonreactive bowl. While constantly whisking, add oil in a thin stream until fully incorporated; set aside.
- Increase heat to high and cook turnips, stirring rarely, until fork tender and browned (they should be cooked through but still retain their shape), about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat, add vinaigrette to the pot, stir to combine, taste, and add more salt and freshly ground black pepper as desired.
The addition of honey to turnips helps cut the bitterness - I did a similar recipe without the poppy seeds and added caramalized onions to sweeten even more:
http://coldcerealandtoast.wordpress.c...
etowernyc: the lid doesn't need to be used at all (it will indeed make the turnips too cooked) so we took that out of the instrux -- thanks for the noticing.
it's not clear when the lid should be on the pot -- i recommend leaving it off during step one, because the water did not evaporate when i made it. i had to dump out the water and the turnips ended up a bit overdone -- they fell apart quite a bit but were still quite delicious.