Grains

Turnip Risotto

by:
May 23, 2012
5
1 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I have been dying to adapt Marcus Samuelsson's risotto technique from his New American Table book. Its deceptively simple yet still yields a beautiful, creamy texture. How it works, I have no idea becuase he foregoes completely the gradual adding of hot stock and dumps it all in at the beginning and just stirs. I thought why not use it now and incorporate some of the beautiful baby turnips abounding. The turnips get chopped and blend in beautifully with the creamy rice. I have always seen bacon as the traditional approach to taming turnip greens - but I went with another delicious source of umami - miso. It works beautifully. —meganvt01

Test Kitchen Notes

Creamy and full of savory dark notes, meganvt01’s Turnip Risotto takes an unlikely combination of ingredients – turnip, rosemary, miso – and an unusual technique to create a toothsome risotto that is difficult to stop eating. The key to this dish is her smart use of miso. Not only does it provide depth of flavor and salt (in fact, I did not need any additional salt after stirring in the miso), but along with the egg yolk, nearly pulls off a palate pleasing trick. Just at the point when you are second-guessing having added all the stock at once, because your rice is tender but not creamy, you stir in the miso and egg yolk, along with some parmesan and rosemary, and voilà – instant texture and a rich combination of flavors. It is a dish worth repeating. The only hitch for me is that the creaminess does not come from the rice itself, but rather from the silky yolk and smooth miso. —gingerroot

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 large shallots, peeled and chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 pound baby turnips, peeled and chopped. greens removed and separately chopped
  • 1 cup arborio rice
  • 1/3 cup white wine
  • 2.5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • 3 tablespoons grated parmesan
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon minced rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons white miso
  • 1 pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 - 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Directions
  1. In a medium saucepan, boil salted water. Blanch the turnip greens for 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add shallots and cook for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes cook for another minute.
  3. Add the arborio rice and stir. Allow it to toast for 2 minutes. Add the wine and let it reduce by half.
  4. Add the chopped turnip and broth to the rice, stir and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Stir the mixture frequently. With about 5 minutes left - add the turnip greens to the rice.
  5. When the rice is cooked to al dente and the turnip is tender, stir in the Parmesan, miso, egg yolk, and rosemary. Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
  6. Serve immediately with toasted walnuts on top and extra Parmesan if desired.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • aargersi
    aargersi
  • meganvt01
    meganvt01
  • pri90
    pri90
meganvt01

Recipe by: meganvt01

Attorney

3 Reviews

pri90 January 15, 2021
This ended up delicious, thank you! However, I admit I was frustrated by the sloppiness of the recipe. the ingredients call for butter and garlic, but the instructions don't make any mention of them.
 
aargersi May 24, 2012
This sounds great Megan! I love the irreverant dumping in of liquid and the use of miso. I will look for baby turnips and if I find some I will try this!
 
meganvt01 May 24, 2012
Thanks! I was wary of the method at first - but I won't argue with Marcus Sameulsson! Perhaps a risotto aficionado would know the difference but for me, the end product works great and has totally pushed me away from the normal tedium of risotto cooking.