Week Four: Zesty Roasted Turnips and Kohlrabi with Turnip Top Dressing

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Roasting veg in this weather is maybe a bit of a tough sell, but let me tell you this was worth it. And I did it in the late evening, just as it was cooling down, so it wasn’t too shabby!

Jane and I both really love the freshness of kohlrabi and turnips but I’d heard a lot of gossip about how good kohlrabi can be roasted so I had to try it out. I made up a sort of marinade that turned out really delightful, so I hope you like it! And I didn’t want to neglect the turnip tops, so I turned them into a very refreshing dressing that could easily be altered into a pesto, with the subtraction of a bit of oil and the addition of some seeds or nuts. There are lots of ways you can combine these two, but ’tis certainly the season for salads, so we went with that. You could also go for a kind of fresh “potato” salad situation by tossing just the roasted veg (add some potatoes too if you like!) with the dressing. We had our salad with feta, but we both agree it would have been better suited to some shaved parmesan or even sharp cheddar cubes.

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Ingredients

For the Roast Kohlrabi and Turnip

  • 1 bunch turnip halved or quartered so they are a similar size
  • 1 head kohlrabi loosely chopped to be about the same size as the turnips
  • 1 thumb fresh ginger grated
  • 3 tbsp olive oil or other oil, your choice
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice or more, to taste
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 2 tsp coriander
  • shakes to taste salt and pepper

Turnip Top Dressing

  • 1 bunch turnip tops destemmed and rough chopped
  • 4-8 tops green onion to taste, chopped
  • 4-8 scapes of garlic to taste, chopped
  • 1-3 tbsp lemon juice to taste (we liked it ZESTY)
  • 2-5 tbsp olive oil 2-3 for pesto, 3-5 for dressing
  • 3 tbsp sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds (optional, for pesto)

Instructions

For Roasting

  1. preheat oven to 450

  2. mix up all the ingredients in a bowl and stir the chopped turnips and kohlrabi around in there – i'm not sure a longer marination time would be helpful, but you could try!

  3. line a baking sheet or pan (with edges) with parchment paper or equivalent

  4. pour bowl with turnips and kohlrabi and all liquid onto parchment paper – depending on your preferences, there may or may not be a fair amount of liquid that they are sitting on. i like to bake things with this liquid because sometimes it adds a nice crispy vibe and kind of steams them as they bake as well. but follow your heart!

  5. bake at 450 for 30-40 minutes, or until browned and crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. you should be able to easily push a fork through.

Turnip Top Dressing

  1. get out the ole food processor or blender or submersion blender or mortar and pestle

  2. depending on your method, pre-chop turnip tops, green onion tops, and scapes as fine as possible or as rough as you like.

  3. (if you're adding seeds to make a pesto, grind those up fine separately if you are going manual on this one)

  4. toss them all into whatever you are using to macerate them

  5. add lemon juice and olive oil to taste and to the texture you prefer

  6. add salt and pepper to season afterwards if you wish!