Baked Sliced Turnips and Potatoes – Rich and Luscious and Delicious

There’s just no way to describe this dish to make it sound as good as it tastes.

Turnips, unfortunately, sound unappealing to most people, which is hard to understand when you consider how delightful a rich and peppery-sweet roasted turnip tastes on wintry afternoon! I guess turnips are fated together with the rutabagas and parsnips of the world to be the best tasting vegetables that people just don’t eat much of.

Anyway – try this recipe and be converted. It does have a lot of butter in it, so don’t make it a daily thing, but once in a while, as a side dish to a roasted meat dinner on a Sunday evening; throw caution to the wind, add all that butter and enjoy a side dish that’s truly going to steal the show.

I got this dish originally from a recipe in Fergus Henderson’s classic cookbook, ‘the whole beast’. I’ve made a few adaptations, including the inclusion of potatoes, which are not in the original recipe. If you like, omit the potatoes and go all turnip.

Baked Sliced Turnips and Potatoes (Makes enough for about 8 as a side dish)

• 1 pound of potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced Yukon Golds or other medium starchy/waxy potatoes will work great here, but I just use whatever I have on hand, mostly

• 2 pounds of turnips, peeled and sliced very thinly
• 1 and ½ cups of unsalted butter (if you only have salted butter, you can use it, just reduce slightly the salt you sprinkle on between the layers)
• 2 medium onions, very thinly sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 375
2. Heat the butter in a heavy skillet over medium and once melted add in the onion slices, and cook stirring occasionally until they are softened but not browned, about 6 or 7 minutes
3. Get out an oven safe casserole dish, about a foot across (or bigger or smaller, depending on what you have!) and toss in a spoonful of the melted butter from the onions to the bottom of the dish.
4. Once the bottom is lubricated, add in a layer of potatoes, then give sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and then add on another spoonful of the melted butter.onion mixture over the top of the layer.
5. Next, add on a layer of turnip slices; give em a little salt and pepper and butter/onion as above.
6. Repeat until you’ve used up all the turnips and potatoes. If you have any butter/onion left, splash it over the top, and then cover with a tight fitting lid or with foil and pop into your preheated oven for about an hour
7. When finished it will be browned and soft throughout and very rich and delicious – cut into segments and serve alongside a good roast meat.

Enjoy!