Roasted Turnips with Wilted Turnip Greens
A tasty root vegetable side dish or main course.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 40 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 bunches small tokyo or salad turnips, with their greens ((around 15 small turnips in all, weighing roughly 1 1/4 pounds))
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for cooking the greens
- 3 ounces bacon, diced ((2 or 3 strips))
- salt
- squeeze lemon juice
- 1/2 - 1 bunch chives, snipped
- black pepper
Instructions
- 1
Position a rack in the lower center of the oven and preheat to 450º.
- 2
Cut the greens off of the turnips and reserve. Wash the turnips and trim away the tail and stem ends. If your turnips are bigger than a ping pong ball, halve them; if they're much larger, cut them into quarters.
- 3
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large, oven-proof skillet over a medium flame. Add the diced bacon, and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, a few minutes. Lift the bacon out of the pan leaving behind the fat.
- 4
Add the turnips to the pan, sprinkle with a few pinches of salt, and toss to coat them in the oil. Put the pan into the oven, and roast until caramelized and tender, about 30 minutes, turning the turnips a few times throughout the baking.
- 5
While the roots roast, wash the turnip greens well, and either cut each leaf off the stem, or use the lazy approach: stack a bunch of leaves on top of one another, and begin slicing the leaves into 1/2" ribbons until you get to the stemmy part, then discard. (If you cut off all the stems, have a beer, then stack and slice as directed.)
- 6
When the roots are done, remove them from the pan. Place the pan over a medium flame (don't forget - that pan handle is hot!) and swirl in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add the sliced greens, and toss with tongs until wilted and tender, about 5 minutes. Season with a bit of salt and a squeeze of lemon. Add the turnips and bacon to the pan, then add the chives and a few good turns of black pepper. Adjust the seasoning as you wish, then serve.