To peel or not to peel…that was indeed the question I was asking myself when looking at the pile of turnips in my fridge. We never had turnips growing up in northern Wisconsin for some reason, so I don’t have a lot of experience cooking with them. But, a nice bunch of turnips came in my weekly CSA delivery (Community Supported Agriculture) from Cluck It Farm so I needed to figure out a way to use them.
I read that peeling turnips was a personal preference, and that peeling the larger turnips can help remove bitterness so I opted to leave the peels on and the roasted turnip & cauliflower recipe turned out great to me & my family. But next time, I’ll take the advice from Kristen over at Slender Kitchen and peel (or rather, slice off the skin since turnips are hard to peel) when making Roasted Turnips or any other turnip recipe for that matter.
One warning before you get started: this is going to make your kitchen smell amazing while it’s roasting, but those pesky turnips take a long time to cook through — so you’re just going to have to wait…and drool. 🙂
Steps for prepping roasted turnips & cauliflower
The first step (aside peeling your turnips, if you’re so inclined) is to cut up those turnips and cauliflower. Since I felt like a little more alliteration after making the terrific turnip tower, I cut them into tiny turnip triangles.
Then comes the cauliflower. No chance of alliteration here so I just sliced them fairly thin.
My son grew some Jimmy Nardello peppers this year that he got from MIgardener.com, so I used a handful of those for some color in the otherwise colorless dish. In addition to the other spices, I also trimmed some rosemary from the plant outside my kitchen window.
Once all the ingredients were in the baking dish I mixed them all together and added a few full sprigs of rosemary (mostly to take a fancy picture but it would also make a nice look as a dish at your next gathering.
For folks who eat a plant-based, vegan, or vegetarian diet this dish could be a whole meal in itself. For us omnivores out there, I recommend serving the roasted turnips & cauliflower with my moist meatloaf or my saucy pork chops. Let me know in the comments if you make this as a side dish and if you try any modifications. I’m always interested in seeing how everyone changes things up. 🙂
Simple Roasted Turnips & Cauliflower with Savory Ingredients
Equipment
- baking dish
Ingredients
- 6 each Turnips Medium size
- 1 head Cauliflower
- 6+ each Jimmy Nardello sweet peppers Substitute with 1 large bell pepper
- 2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Sage
- 1 tsp Thyme
- 3-4 sprigs Fresh rosemary Substitute with 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper
- 1/2 tsp Sea salt
- 1 pinch Red pepper flakes (optional — adds heat flavor)
Instructions
- Cut turnips, cauliflower, & peppers and place in large baking dish
- Add remaining ingredients and mix well
- Bake at 425 degrees for 45-60 minutes until turnips are soft (not crunchy), mixing once or twice while baking to heat all veggies evenly