Dinner Tonight: Turnip 'Risotto'
It wasn’t until recently that I realized the term "risotto" could be applied to all sorts of dishes that didn’t have an ounce of rice involved. It’s a liberating idea in theory, but one I haven’t really followed through with in practice. Although I never thought turnips would be the gateway, we actually picked this recipe because of the turnips, not the risotto tag. The fiancée and I just came to the conclusion that we probably hadn’t ever bought turnips before. It was about time.
Halfway through preparing this recipe, I predicted disaster. It didn’t smell that wonderful, and all that oil looked excessive. The resulting dish was a tad heavy, but I suppose that all rice-based risottos are, too. Luscious, warming, and filling probably give a better description. It's yet another Mario Batali
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Turnip "Risotto"
- serves 4 -
Adapted from Mario Batali Simple Italian Food
Ingredients
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, cut into 1/8-inch dice
1 1/2 pounds turnips, cut into 1/8-inch dice
2 cups hot chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
Procedure
1. Warm the chicken stock in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.
2. Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and turn the heat to medium. Toss in the onion and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the turnips and cook for 2 minutes. Ladle in some of the hot chicken stock and cook until absorbed. Continue until all of the stock has been added, about 10 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Add the butter and grated cheese stir occasionally for a minute. Remove from the heat, garnish with parsley, and serve.
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4 Comments:
Er, I'm a tad wary of this one. I keep hoping to find a turnip recipe I like though, after two disastrous turnip attempts last summer. Was the turnip taste overpowering in this?
sarahbeam at 8:16AM on 03/20/08
This looks interesting. I do agree - the amount of oil looks way excessive. I would try to cut it down. Because isn't the important part of risotto the absorption of the broth?
sunfastrose at 11:36AM on 03/20/08
Believe me, I definitely had doubts, too. But I suppose just cutting back on the oil would be a responsible thing to do. The turnips are actually very mild and delicious.
Nick Kindelsperger at 4:17PM on 03/20/08
My daughter made this for dinner tonight, and we all had some trepidation about it - surprise, surprise, all three of us wound up loving it. It wasn't just a case of we all thought, hmm, this is okay, for a turnip dish - we all thought it was genuinely tasty.
She used veggie stock rather than chicken, and used Asiago instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano because that's what we had ... she didn't even put the cheese in my husband's (because he doesn't do dairy) and all three of us found it to be quite yummy. The turnip was sweet and mild, had a "tooth" similiar to kernel corn, and the risotto was creamy and satisfying. Recommended.
muzicgirl at 2:53PM on 02/18/09