Turnip Au Gratin

Before we go any further I just want to say thank you to the recipe owner from Whole Lifestyle Nutrition, go check it out!

I told you all I had eaten turnips before and I have disliked every attempt that has followed. I knew I had to get out the big guns. I’m talking comfort food times a million and a dash of my favorite, green onions. I even came close to putting hot sauce all over it but this stands alone gloriously.

I wasn’t really sure how to approach prepping the turnips. I’m still not entirely convinced I went about it the right way since I didn’t get a chance to really research and I just went with exactly what the recipe said. I chopped small bits of the end off and peeled them so they looked almost indistinguishable from a peeled potato. The first step is to trick my mind into thinking that these are slightly like potatoes.

Only difference you can tell in the above picture is that they have a more obvious eye in the middle than a potato. I brought the mandolin out once more to make sure I get fairly uniform slices and these definitely slice way different than a potato. They are tougher and have a bit of an earthy smell. That is my nice way of saying they smelled like dirt to me.

They turned out great though, albeit some were only half slices but I wasn’t about to slice up my hand just to get picture perfect slices. This is a blog of research, not a pretty picture book! Although I do try to make it both, there is no rule saying that they can’t be both.

I was 100% all in with loading this up with as much tasty and fatty food as possible to try and mask the taste of the turnips. Every layer is a layer of turnips, two different cheeses and a tablespoon of butter and you get about three layers total overall. I didn’t realize how much butter was in this when I first chose this one but I had complete faith that it would be tasty. I can’t think of something that butter has ruined.

I assembled the thing like it was a turnip lasagna and went about my business to wait around. I originally planned on putting leeks in a sort of au gratin fashion but everyone mentioned the soup so I’m glad that plan had to pivot so we could au gratin these little roots. I’ve only imagined them as dirt flavored chunks I find in greens and that taste has stuck with me whenever I see or smell a turnip. I even get grossed out looking at a cartoon turnip.

When this came out of the oven though my heart soared and I couldn’t wait to get some of it on a plate. I’m 90% sure it was mostly from the bubbly cheese and copious amount of butter but it smelled heavenly.

It tasted heavenly. Here is where I should be saying I absolutely didn’t get a taste of the turnips while eating this but my worries of too much fatty ingredients have been set aside. The turnips tasted delightful, like little peppery potatoes that are more firm and have an incredibly slight crunch without being raw. A potato au gratin would be mushy but this was refreshing.

I will admit that once I was 3/4s of the way through my plate it felt a little too decadent but I was so excited to be eating turnips and enjoying them! I think they definitely add a different taste with the cheese and will certainly surprise anyone who eats it. I think you could actually serve this to a picky eater and not tell them it is turnips and they would love it.

Here is to hoping the less doctored version of turnips is just as good!