Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Turnip + Sweet Potato Gratin


So, as promised, we are getting into some serious Thanksgiving food this week. We will kick it off with this delicious side dish of winter root vegetables. I came up with this preparation because I was looking for a way to serve turnips that was appealing. Turnips have a serious sour note that I like, but some people are put off by. So here I paired them with equal amounts of sweet potatoes. The sweetness from the sweet potato offsets the sourness of the turnip. They match each other well. Plus the orange and white striped gratin makes for a neat presentation.

1 large sweet potato (the one I used was the size of my nephew)
3 large turnips
4 ounces of goat cheese (or any semi-soft cheese)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or cream if you aren't scared)
1 palmful of fresh thyme
3 cloves garlic
salt & pepper

9x12 baking dish
mandolin slicer

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel sweet potato. Using the mandolin, slice turnip and sweet potato 1/8 of an inch thick. Drizzle a bit of olive oil into the bottom of the baking dish to keep things from sticking. Start layering in your root vegetables in a "fish scale" pattern. Do a layer of turnip and then a layer of potato until you have used all of your vegetables. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper in every other layer. The other ingredients go into a food processor and are blended until smooth. Pour mixture evenly over your root vegetables. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Uncover, drizzle with olive oil, and bake a few more minutes to get some color on top. The result is a creamy and delicious side dish that looks as good as it tastes.
We had it for dinner last night with porcini-dredged tofu and mushroom gravy.


5 comments:

petya said...

Just wanted to let you know that I recommended your site to a bunch of my (Bulgarian) vegetarian friends. Letting you know, in case you get an influx of influx of East European visitors. They are not coming to hack your site, they are hear for the food. ;)

petya said...

Sorry for the semi-coherent comment. It's been a long day.

Sarah S. said...

This is stellar, and just what I was looking for (without knowing it). I bought my *first ever* turnips last week without an idea in the world what to make with them. I already have the sweet potatoes and goat cheese on hand as well! Most excellent.

Bianca said...

Yum! That is such a pretty dish! Love the layers!

Paula said...

Wow! That is beautiful. I might give turnips a second chance.