The Tee-Tiny Experimental Kitchen-Cooking Nobody's Favorite Vegetables

I have written about turnips before, and about the Southern love affair with their greens and dismissal of their roots.

Richard Olney baked parboiled roots in cream and Gruyere, and having learned that recipe from his"Simple French Food", I have stayed with variants of it. But today, having three medium turnips that needed a sense of direction, I decided to julienne them in the food processor, then cook them as I would potato home fries. I put them in a 9 inch cast iron skillet with a little olive oil and 1/3 stick of butter and tossed them in the fat to coat them. Then, on medium heat, I cooked them until they were soft and golden, with some even crisped to brown. I tossed them frequently after adding salt and a couple dashes of celery salt to taste as they were cooking.

Next, I added 1 cup of diced spiral Honey ham and 1/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese. I continued to saute the turnips a minute or two more to melt the cheese and warm the ham. I checked for seasoning.

This is a delicious turnip treatment, tasty beyond measure. If an old timey Southern cook had invented it, she would have called it a "Feed the Preacher" side. But even I, a New England old maid, know something good when I eat it-




This should feed two to four.