12 Days of Christmas Treats – winter white edition

Day 11 – bacon sprinkled roasted turnips with a horseradish maple glaze

turnips – the pretty root vegetable!

As long as I can remember, I have LOVED turnips!  They are the perfect addition to any root vegetable roast, and are also delicious to snack on.  I particularly like how they taste so peppery.  At our house, a thinly sliced turnip on a crudite platter disappears very quickly.  Surprisingly, sometimes people are munching away on a slice and don’t even know what they are!  Turnips are a beautiful root vegetable whose skin fades from a pretty purple to a creamy white.  Eventually you have to peel that pretty skin off, but that is okay because then you are one step closer to eating one!

thank goodness for my Aunt June!!

I have my Aunt June to thank for my love of turnips.  Every summer when we would go to visit, she always served “Canadian turnips.”  For this reason, I thought turnips only grew in Canada!  Aunt June would serve them very simply with butter, salt, and A LOT of pepper.  They were divine!  A few years ago I started roasting them, and I have never looked back!  Roasting the turnips creates a uniquely scrumptious, peppery, and caramelized flavor.  They taste incredible right off of your sheet pan, but  I wanted to jazz things up for the holidays.

do you think turnips taste like horseradish???

While your turnips are roasting, you can quickly whisk together a fabulous glaze to toss them in when they come out of the oven.  The glaze is especially delicious because it is made with horseradish, maple syrup, mustard, and a little white balsamic.  The sweetness of the maple syrup is the perfect way to emphasize the peppery taste of the turnips.  I wanted to include a little horseradish because I think that turnips taste a little like horseradish.

The perfect end (or beginning) to the glazed roasted turnips is some crispy bacon sprinkled over the top.  Chopped chives add a little touch of green that you need for the holidays.  Every bite is a taste explosion!  I hope that this recipe will make a visit to your holiday table.  It will be front and center at ours!

bacon sprinkled roasted turnips with a horseradish maple glaze

There will be no leftovers when you make these roasted turnips with a horseradish and maple glaze.  And don’t forget the bacon sprinkles!

• Author: Sue Larson
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 4 - 6 servings 1x
• Category: vegetable
• Method: roast

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

7–8 medium turnips peeled and cut into bite sized chunks

olive oil, salt and white pepper for roasting

Glaze:

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 TB horseradish ( less if you don’t like as much heat)

one TB white balsamic

1 TB grainy mustard

4 strips of bacon cooked crispy and broken into small pieces

1 TB chopped chives

Optional garnish for the holidays: cut fresh rosemary and a few pomegranate seeds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Peel and cut turnips into bite sized chunks, taking into consideration that they will shrink slightly when roasting

Place in a medium sized bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and white pepper

Spread on a sheet pan, leaving space between the turnips

Roast for 35-40 minutes, loosening and turning over halfway through roasting

Prepare glaze:

Combine all glaze ingredients in a small bowl and set aside

Cook bacon and drain on paper towel. When cool break into small pieces

Cut chives in small pieces

Remove turnips from the oven when golden brown and fork tender

Carefully mix with glaze and put on serving platter

Sprinkle with bacon and chives

Optional holiday garnish: cut fresh rosemary sprigs and place on platter.  Dot with a few pomegrantes