Dark Days: steak and hookers
Monday, October 29, 2007
The other day I did my first volunteer shift at the Fair Food Farmstand. Sadly, I spend so much time perusing the produce there I didn’t need much of an orientation as to what goes where. At one point, though, I was mystified when I opened a box and pulled out what I thought were radishes - giant radishes and baby radishes. Sarah, the manager, set me straight - they were Hakurei turnips. In my head, I heard “hooker eye” turnips, which sent me into giggles.
The Hakurei turnip is a Japanese salad turnip. They are quite sweet, and much softer than a regular turnip. And they’re gorgeous. I kept eyeing them up the entire time I was working at the Farmstand, and after my shift ended I bought two bunches of them, along with a porterhouse steak from Natural Acres, to make for dinner on Sunday night.
It turned into a great meal for the Dark Days Challenge - the only things not local: walnut oil, salt and pepper. In addition to the steak (cooked rare, just the way I like it!) and turnips, I also sauteed some local mushrooms in local butter.
This is how I cooked the Hakurei turnips:
2 bunches of Hakurei turnips with greens
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small red onion, diced
Salt and pepper
2 tsp. of walnut oilHeat walnut oil over low-medium heat in a large skillet.
Trim greens from turnips and set aside. Trim turnips and slice in half. Add to the skillet with a sprinkling of salt and cook for 10 minutes or until turnips are just starting to brown. Stir the turnips now and then to turn them. Add garlic and onion; saute for five minutes.
Tear greens into bite sized pieces and add to the skillet. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Cook until greens are wilted, another couple of minutes.
The turnips were excellent - even my husband loved them! And that makes me think perhaps I should consider growing them next year. Johnny’s Selected Seeds sells Hakurei seeds. They appear to be relatively easy to grow - and it takes only 38 days to reach maturity. It’s definitely something to consider for next Spring!
Posted by Nicole on 10/29 at 01:22 AM
I hope there are more of those turnips at the farmstand this week. I’d love to try some. I just read an article in the latest issue of Mother Earth News about turnips, and I’ve been thinking that I ought to add it to our garden list for next year too. I’ve never really cooked with them. Thanks for the inspiration!
I loooooooooove Hakurei turnips! Yummmmmmmm! I first encountered them at the Kimberton CSA when I was a member there in the mid 90s. Steamed and buttered. Mmmmmmmmm.
Hookers!
Next entry: The green thumb
Previous entry: End of season limbo
Nicole - these were probably our (Weaver’s Way Farm) turnips! They’re definitely one of my favorites this season. They are easy to grow - we got our seeds from Johnny’s so give them a try next year. I believe they grow in the spring too although we had purple tops in the spring and now hakurei in the fall. Glad to hear you enjoyed them so much!