So turnip greens appeared in my veg bag this week.
While not common in the UK apparently they are common in the rest of the world. My searches for recipes showed them stir fried, steamed and lightly boiled. Olive oil is a popular pairing and they could substitute for kale, spinach or any green leaf. Yes, even raw although the taste is on the bitter side so maybe massage some of that oil in. You can also cook the cute little turnips at the bottom of the stalk. Indeed according to the internet (obviously the fount of all reliable knowledge) this is popular in Japan with miso.
I decided to steam my turnip greens. Partly because I’ve been neglecting my steamer of late (beyond preparing potatoes for salad). But also because we’ve having a mini heatwave which makes it too hot to put on a frying pan.
I started by chopping off the teeny turnips and picking through the leaves to remove any that looked a bit yellow. Clearly turnips greens are best eaten close to picking, not several days later. Actually this is a great rule for deciding what to eat first from a veg bag. Consume anything that is individual leaves or where the leaves are less than robust. Spring greens can take few days in the fridge. Turnip greens not so much.
I then gave the remaining leaves a good rinse under the tap. Quite a few had grit on them that would have made for a less than pleasant eating experience
Then I chopped the leaves into 2 inch pieces. I have a vague feeling that you are supposed to discard that stalks but as long as they are not too tough that seems wasteful.
I crammed the chopped leaves into a steamer basket and left them to cook for 10 minutes.
Once cooked further preparation was pretty easy. I spooned some onto a plate with a jacket potato and added chill salt and a splash of olive oil. A pretty easy, not to heavy dinner for a warm summer night.
The remaining turnips greens I wanted to eat cold as they apparently do in Italy. So I popped the cooled turnip greens on a tub and added olive oil, lemon juice and salt. A bot of a shake and it was ready to go in my lunch box. Yes I probably should have cooled the greens immediately after cooking but I think I got away with it this time!
P.s. Aren’t the baby turnips adorable?