Turnip Greens on Halloween!

  Remember last week when I picked the Turnips from the Potager and said I was going to make the greens the next day?

That would have been a good idea.

Things kept coming up and it was a week before I had time to cook them. I don't recommend that. They were a bit wilted. But a bit wilted fresh from the garden tastes better that store bought!

Turnip Leaves are normally sandy, so the first step is to remove the side leaves from the stem and wash them in a bowl of water. Mine wasn't very sandy. (I run a clean garden - haha)

Turnips are a bitter green. It helps to de-bitter them by boiling them for 8-9 minutes in salted water. In the south, they cook them with pork fat in water for an hour. It's really not necessary.










Drain turnip greens thoroughly.

I made these in between answering the door for Trick-or-Treaters. Did you know that Jack o'Lanterns originated from carved turnip lanterns made by Irish children to keep spirits away on Halloween?  I'm sure those Irish moms cooked the greens left over from the carved turnips, just like we use the seeds left over from our carved pumpkins.
So turnip greens seemed like an appropriate side dish for a Halloween dinner.

 While the greens were draining,  I toasted walnuts. I just threw them in a pan over medium heat and cooked them, turning occasionally until they looked toasted. About 4 minutes. I toasted more than I need for this recipe. The rest will go in a salad. Toasting nuts brings out the flavor.
Remove nuts to a cutting board, chop and set aside. About 1/2 cup would be plenty.

 Add extra virgin olive oil to the already warm pan, and add the turnips greens, a clove of pressed garlic and 1/2 onion, chopped . Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Saute until onion is cooked and turnips are tender, about 5 minutes.

Yummy.  Thankfully, the turnips greens still tasted fresh and delicious. Waiting a week to cook my turnip greens on Halloween gave me a treat - not a trick!