Fall Roots with Mustard Greens and Turnip Dip

Fall root vegetables are among the best things ever! Serving a selection as dippers or each roasted but spiced differently makes for flavorful, colorful fun. Radishes, turnips, and Chioggia beets are featured here, but try black Spanish radishes roasted with cinnamon, daikon roasted with caraway, rutabagas roasted with black pepper and then scented with orange peel, baby turnips sautéed with coriander and glazed with a bit of honey. The Chioggia beets are blanched and shocked to preserve their beautiful color and stripes, which turn gray during roasting. Other varieties of beets – white, golden, and red – can be roasted with tarragon as a great addition to this dish.

By David Lewis, Zane Placke & Willie Benson | October 01, 2013

Ingredients

Dip

1/2 recipe Mustard Greens Pesto* (see separate recipe)
2 large turnips
4 cups vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper as needed

Roots

1 bunch radishes
1 bunch small turnips
3 medium Chioggia beets
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse finishing sea salt as garnish

Instructions

FOR THE DIP
1. Toast the caraway seeds in a small skillet over medium heat until aromatic. Coarsely grind with a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder.

2. Wash the large turnips and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks. Place in a sauce pot with the bay leaves, toasted caraway seeds, and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until turnips are very tender. Strain, discard the bay leaves, and reserve the stock for another use.

3. Place the pesto, cooked turnips, and sea salt into a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. (Add a bit of the reserved stock if needed.) Adjust seasoning with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

FOR THE ROOTS
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Remove the greens from the radishes, leaving the root tails and 1/2 inch of the leaf stems intact. Wash the radishes. Cut each in half at an angle at its equator. Place on a baking sheet. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkle with ground cardamom, and bake. They are great just after they get really hot and they are great if they are baked until they start to show a bit of brown coloring. Experiment to discover how you prefer them.

2. Remove the greens from the bunch of small turnips, leaving 1/2 inch of the leaf stems and the root tails intact. Wash the turnips and cut them into bite-sized pieces the same shape as the radishes or into longitudinal wedges. Place on a baking sheet, toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkle with ground cinnamon, and bake until they start to show some brown coloring.

3. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Wash the Chioggias, remove the tips and tails, and cut into quarter-round 3/8-inch slices. Prepare an ice bath of 4 cups of ice in 4 cups of cold water. Drop the Chiooggia slices into the boiling water and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until the slices just become flexible. Strain and plunge the slices in the ice bath. Remove when cool. Drain completely and season with freshly ground black pepper.

4. Arrange the roots on a serving platter. Sprinkle with coarse finishing sea salt, and side with a bowl of Mustard Greens and Turnip Dip.