Tag: turnips

Ray’s Turnips in the New York Times

Greenmarket customer and food writer Melissa Clark discovered Ray’s turnips and created this beautiful raw salad with arugula and prosciutto. Read the full article in her New York Times column, A Good Appetite.

photo © Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Shaved Turnip Salad With Arugula and Prosciutto

Published: New York Times, November 28, 2011

Time: About 10 minutes

4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pepper
4 small turnips, about 5 ounces, peeled
8 cups arugula, wild if possible
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into bite-size pieces

1. In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar and salt until the salt dissolves. Whisk in the honey, oil and pepper.

2. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, slice the turnips into paper-thin rounds. In a large bowl, combine turnips, arugula and prosciutto. Toss with the dressing. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Yield: 4 servings.

Turnip and Turnip Green Soup

Thanks to loyal customer Susan Gill for sending in this great recipe from Chez Panisse Vegetables, by Alice Waters. She tells us this soup is wonderful and uses the
greens too. Also, Ray’s current turnips are perfect also because they don’t need peeling.

(Serves 8)
1 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or fat rendered from Ray’s bacon)
2 bunches young turnips with greens (about 2.5 lbs.)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
1 small piece prosciutto or Bradley Farm smoked bacon
8 cups rich chicken stock
salt and pepper
Reggiano Parmesan cheese

Peel and slice the onion and garlic thin. Put in a nonreactive pot with the olive oil and butter and 1 tablespoon water and stew, covered, until they are soft and translucent. Trim off the stems and greens from the turnips and reserve the greens. If the turnips are very young and tender, it is unecessary to peel them. Trim off the roots, slice the turnips thin and add them to the pot. Stew them for a few minutes, until they begin to soften. Add the bay leaf, thyme, prosciutto or bacon, chicken stock, and salt and pepper. cover and simmer over low heat for about 1/2 hour.

Wash the turnip greens and cut them into 1/2-inch-wide strips and stir them into the soup. Simmer the soup for another 10 minutes or so, until the greens are soft an tender. Garnish the soup with a few curls of shaved Parmesan.

*Water or vegetable stock may be substituted for the chicken stock and the prosciutto omitted for a meatless version of this soup. A pinch of Ray’s paprika added when the turnips are stewing, before the liquid is added, would make for a nice, smoky touch in place of the pork.