Savory Chinese Turnips Pancakes

Great photos on the website

http://thewoksoflife.com/2013/12/savory-chinese-turnip-pancakes/

• 1 dried Chinese sausage (lop cheung) – a few slices of good, thick-cut, smoky bacon can also be substituted.
• 2 tablespoons dried shrimp (optional)
• 2 scallions         
• 1 cup grated Chinese white turnip or daikon radish
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch fresh ground white pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• Oil, for cooking

For the dipping sauce:

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon chopped scallion

Rinse the dried sausage, dice it up, and set aside. If using bacon, simply cook the bacon until it’s crisp and still a bit chewy, and then dice. If using the dried shrimp, rinse in warm water, and give them a rough chop. Wash and chop the scallions. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the scallion for the dipping sauce. Wash and peel your turnip/radish. Grate 1 cup.  

Make the batter by putting the flour, cornstarch, salt, white pepper, egg, water, sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, sausage, shrimp (if using), and grated turnip into a mixing bowl and combining thoroughly.

Before you make your pancakes, make your dipping sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. There are no rules for this sauce! Make it spicy, make it sweet, make it vinegar-y with some black Chinese vinegar…

Heat the pan over medium-high heat and add 1 teaspoon of oil to the pan. Sprinkle some sesame seeds onto the pan and spoon about ½ cup of the batter on top of the sesame seeds.

Use a spatula to quickly spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan and form a round pancake. Sprinkle some more sesame seeds on top. Let the pancake cook for about 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown on one side.

Flip the pancake and press it down a bit. Add a little more oil to the pan if it’s dried out. Once that side is also golden brown, flip the pancake again and cook on the first side for a minute. Flip again and cook the second side for another minute. So if you’re counting, you’re cooking each side twice. This gets the pancakes really nice and crispy. 

Cut into wedges and serve with your sauce.

Turnip, Carrot and Dill Salad

from Cook With What You Have

Turnips work well with dill and almost no other herb, in my opinion. So if you have some dill, by all means use it in this quick, grated salad.

Grate as many carrots and turnips as you want. Dress with a lemony vinaigrette (lemon juice, olive, oil, salt and pepper and a little lemon zest if you’d like) and mix with plenty of chopped dill. If you have some toasted slivered almonds or toasted sunflower seeds by all means add a few tablespoon for crunch and heartiness. And you could add some very thinly sliced sweet onion to this. That would be lovely in fact.

Turnips with Carrots and Green Garlic, Garlic Scapes and Bacon

from Cook With What You Have

Dice turnips (no need to ever peel these) and carrots (don’t peel either, just scrub) in more or less the same quantity. Chop 4-5 garlic scapes. Dice 1-2 slices bacon or use a bit of bacon fat. Add everything to a large skillet (you’ll need to use 1 tablespoon or so of olive oil or butter if you don’t have bacon or bacon fat) and cook gently for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Optional- add cut turnip greens at end and lightly wilt.  Season with salt and a squeeze or two of lemon juice.

Simple Turnips with Vinegar

from Cook With What You Have

Scrub turnips and cut into wedges. Gently cook the turnips in 1-2 tablespoons of butter (depending on how many turnips you are using) for about 5 minutes. Add 2-3 teaspoons of sugar and 1 -2 tablespoons of champagne or white wine vinegar and gently cook for another 10 minutes. Optional- add cut turnip greens at end and lightly wilt. Season lightly with salt and pepper. This is excellent with any kind of pork dish.

Turnip Hash with Broccoli Rabe (or Kale)

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound plum tomatoes (use canned or omit) 
• 1/2 pound medium turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1/2 pound fingerling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 6 1/2 cups) or sub kale 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh thyme

Directions

Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion, garlic, salt, red-pepper flakes, thyme, and reserved turnips, parsnips, and potatoes; spread evenly to cover bottom of skillet. Cook, without stirring, until vegetables begin to brown on bottom, about 15 minutes.

Add reserved tomatoes and broccoli rabe to skillet. Stir once; cook until vegetables are very tender and browned, about 25 minutes. Serve hot.

Add reserved tomatoes and broccoli rabe to skillet. Stir once; cook until vegetables are very tender and browned, about 25 minutes. Serve hot.

Russian Borscht

From Olga Murray

Chef's tip: Don't be afraid to add any sort of root vegetable. Generally anything goes well in a borscht. 

Ingredients:

• 2 russet and 2 purple or red potatoes, peeled
• 4 carrots, peeled
• 5 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 large red onion
• 2 small white onions, one diced and one quartered
• 1 bunch baby turnips, scrubbed and trimmed
• ½ large green cabbage (equates to about 4 cups when shredded)
• 2 T butter
• Salt and pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 ¼ lbs of beets, peeled
• 1 1/2 lb whole tomatoes
• 1 T sugar
• 8 cups vegetable stock (recipe below), water, or some combination
• 6-10 sprigs parsley, half chopped, half whole
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 T horseradish
• 1 celery stalk
• ½ kohlrabi, peeled and chopped
• 1 large eggplant, cubed
• 2 Shiitake mushrooms

Directions:

1. Vegetable stock: Wash and scrub the soup vegetables.  Place peels from the carrots, beets, and two potatoes in a pot with three of the garlic cloves, two bay leaves, two teaspoons of salt, celery, kohlrabi peels, some parsley sprigs, the quartered white onion, and the Shiitake mushrooms.  Other combinations of vegetable trimmings will work too.  Cover with 10 cups of water; bring to a boil, then simmer while you prep the other vegetables, about 45 minutes.

        2.     Chop these vegetables: onions, eggplant, kohlrabi, carrots, turnips, potatoes, cabbage, and the rest of the garlic.

3.     Melt butter in a large soup pot.  Add onions, carrots, turnips, potatoes, cabbage, and garlic.  Toss with 1 T of salt, cover and cook over medium heat until the vegetables have wilted, ~ 25 minutes.

4.     Meanwhile, dice the beets.

5.     When the onions, cabbage, etc. are soft, add the beets, kohlrabi, eggplant, and tomatoes and 1 bay leaf.  Keep the heat on medium and gently break up the tomatoes on the side of the pot.  Strain the stock and add it to the soup plus enough water to equal about 6 cups.  Once the soup is boiling again, reduce heat to a simmer and cook an additional 25-30 minutes or just until the beets are tender.

6.     Add salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 T vinegar and sugar. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top. Can also use chopped fresh dill.

7.     Combine the sour cream and horseradish.  Serve soup hot, warm or cold with a spoonful of the sour cream-horseradish on top.