Turnips are terrific if you take the time to get to know them. Which you should. They seem sadly forgotten. At the very least, they deserve to be in a mixture of roasted root vegetables, or turned into pickles. Tender young baby turnips are sweet enough to eat raw and hardly need any cooking or dressing up, but steamed with their tender green tops, they are insanely delicious. Larger purple-top turnips benefit from a more aggressive approach, such as the stovetop turnip confit. My British friend Caroline and I have always been at loggerheads regarding the turnip. For her, turnips evoke dreary boarding-school meals and the jumbo yellow turnips they call “swedes,” tragically (and shamelessly) cooked to watery smithereens. But if they’re not too large, yellow turnips—which have a slightly grainy texture—are very good just boiled and buttered.
Young Turnips with Greens
Tender young spring turnips, simmered with butter, salt, and their very own bright green tops.
A lot of so-called baby vegetables are immature, harvested too young, before they’ve had a chance to really develop any character. Not so with young turnips, one of the early spring crops. At the market, look for walnut-sized ones with their vibrant greens still attached and perky. Or, better yet, pull them straight from the garden.
Cut the greens from 2 bunches of young turnips (about 2 pounds), leaving a bit of green stem attached to each turnip. Wash the greens twice in cold water, then drain. Roughly chop the greens or, if small, leave them whole. Set aside.
Trim the roots from the turnips with a paring knife. Unless they are quite small, halve or quarter them. Soak in a bowl of warm water to remove any grit.
Put 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil in a large saucepan, add the turnips, and season with salt and pepper. Add ½ cup water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover and steam until the turnips are tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the turnip greens and a pinch more salt and continue cooking, covered, to wilt the greens, about a minute more. Serve hot. Makes 4 servings
Pan-Roasted Purple-Top Turnip
Perhaps you’ve seen these large, rough-looking roots, sometimes called winter turnips (or clip-top, since they’re sold without their greens) in the supermarket. Though they may not look very inspiring, and they really must be peeled, they’re the perfect candidate for roasting, cut into wedges or cubes. Oven roasting is fine, but I’m fondest of this stovetop method taught to me by my friend Michael, who learned it as a young cook while working in a restaurant kitchen in France, where it was known as turnip confit. This technique produces incredibly flavorful turnips, easily cooked in advance and reheated.
Take 6 purple-top turnips about the size of a tennis ball and peel them. Cut them crosswise into ⅛-inch slices (use a mandoline or a large knife). Melt a knob of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter foams, put in the turnip slices and season well with salt and pepper. Listen for the sound of sizzling, then move the slices at the bottom of the pan to the top using a small spatula. Continue in this fashion, repeatedly ferrying the bottom slices to the top, until all are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. (You’ll notice that the bottom slices will caramelize at first but then lose their browned edges somewhat as they continue to cook and the turnip sugars dissolve.) Makes 4 servings