Brown Butter Baby Turnips

If you are looking for a charming dinner companion, you need look no farther than these baby turnips from Sweetwater Farm that I procured through Eugene Local Foods. Turnips, like their cousin the rutabaga, do not have the biggest fan base. They can be bitter tasting and surly looking and give the impression of requiring a major investment of work. But I’m here to tell you that these babies were a breeze to prepare. I simply trimmed off the tops and tips, quartered or halved them, and then sautéed them with a pad of butter and a pinch of salt. I left them on low heat while I attended to the rest of the meal – finishing off a barley risotto, cooking chicken breasts with a lemon, mustard, and caper sauce, and preparing a green salad. Within about ten minutes the turnips had transformed themselves into tender, caramelized gems of flavor that quietly stole the show at the dinner table.

Brown Butter Baby Turnips

I bunch of baby turnips

1 Tbsp butter

pinch of salt

1. Trim the tops and tails from the baby turnips (if they are in good shape, reserve the greens for a stir fry or gomae). Rinse the turnips, quarter the bigger ones and halve the small ones, so that you have about a cup of equally sized pieces.

2. Heat a small skillet and melt the butter. Add the turnips and a pinch of salt and cook them over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes until they are very nicely browned all over and the butter has browned to a nutty flavor. Serve warm.