Hakurei Turnips
These delightful globes are crunchy, sweet, a tad spicy and fun to grow! They are turnips, but unlike any other you may have tried. They are a "specialty" Japanese turnip--see you don't need to go to the farmer's market to get fancy food : ) You can use them like a radish; on your salad, sliced on your sandwich or cook em up for a slightly sweeter, softer addition to your meal.
"If you tend to run screaming from turnips, then pretty little hakurei turnips just may turn you around."
What is the nutritional value? They are low in calories, high in vitamin C, and fiber.
How can you eat them? raw or cooked
How do you store them? Crisper...we all need just one big crisper in the spring!
These look a little wilty because I took the photo at high noon on a very windy day. (Note to photographer: don't take photos of vegetables at that time.)
Rain!!! Did you ever think I would put three exclamation points after the word "rain" after last year? We were really lucky this weekend and got about 2 inches here and no wind--whew! The plants are all soooo happy. I am supposed to hill the taters at 6 and 12 inches, but they went straight from 2" to 12" in three days! Of course the weeds liked the bit of rain too so this week's list mostly entails weeding, with a little transplanting intermixed.
This week's loot: beet greens, lettuce mix, hakurei turnips with greens, mustard greens, arugula, spinach, tat soi--spring greens baby!
Next week's loot: more greens : )
Sauteed turnips: 2 bunches hakurei turnips with greens
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup white wine
Instructions:
Rinse the turnips and greens well. Cut the greens from the turnips and chop into 2-inch pieces. Trim any straggly roots from the turnips and discard. Cut the turnips into quarters or eighths, depending on size. In a sauté pan with a lid, heat the olive oil and butter. Add the turnips, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and sauté until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the turnips from the pan. Add the greens to the pan, along with any moisture still clinging to the leaves. Cover the pan and allow the greens to cook, stirring once or twice, until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the white wine and cook until almost all the liquid is gone. Return the turnips to the pan; cook 1 to 2 minutes to heat through. Serve immediately.
Baked Hakurei Turnips
Remove greens from turnips, leaving about one inch of stem attached to the turnip. Wash and place in saucepan. Cover with water and boil until tender. Drain turnips, place in baking pan, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown. Sprinkle with sea salt and eat the whole turnip, stem and all. The greens can be sautéed.
--From Rosebank Farms
