Sunday, January 27, 2013

More words about turnips (and mushrooms, and baby fennel)


Last week the profusion of brilliant red and white turnips beckoning to us everywhere in the market inspired us to some historical reflections on this vegetable that never seems to get enough respect.  Here’s another easy recipe in which you cook a chicken on a bed of turnips, potatoes, shallots … and one slightly unexpected ingredient, dried prunes, which add a welcome note of sweetness to complement the slightly “radishy” taste of the turnips.   

This is an almost infinitely flexible template for a dish.  To begin with, all the amounts below are negotiable, depending on what you have on hand.  You can make it with only turnips (or only potatoes), add other root vegetables such as parsnips or rutabaga, use a coarsely chopped regular onion instead of the shallots, use different kinds of wine (such as Sherry or Marsala), use a little brandy in addition to (or instead of) the wine, or use another kind of dried fruit.  If you want to be a little more fancy, you can remove the chicken at the end and finish the vegetable mixture with a touch of cream.  It's pretty hard to go very wrong with this dish, no matter what you do.



  • Olive oil for frying
  • 1 whole chicken (we used a “l’argent” chicken from Chowdown Farms at the market
  • Two small bunches of turnips, one red and one white, scrubbed and trimmed (which you'll find at Towani and Good Humus at the market): whole, halved or quartered, depending on their siz
  • A handful (perhaps 12) small red or white fingerling potatoes (or whatever you've got; we used the smallest potatoes available from Zuckermans at the market), halved if needed
  • About six shallots, peeled
  • A small handful (about 10) prunes (we got ours from Cadena Ranch), soaked for 15 minutes in hot water and drained
  • A few sprigs of thyme or rosemary (optional)
  • A crumbled dry red chile pepper (optional) 
  •  ½ cup dry white wine
  •  ½ cup chicken stock 
Preheat your oven to 350.  Salt and pepper the chicken.


In a dutch oven in which your chicken will fit fairly snugly, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, and brown the chicken on both sides (about 15 minutes).  Remove to a plate.

Add all the vegetables and herbs and sauté lightly for a few minutes.  Then add the wine and stock.  Bring to a simmer and return the chicken to the pan, breast-side up.  Cover, place in the oven. 



Check after about half an hour and turn the chicken over, adding a smidge more stock if it looks dry.  Cook until your chicken is cooked to your satisfaction, the vegetables are tender, and the sauce slightly thickened — usually about one hour altogether, depending on the size of your chicken.


This week at the market we also picked up a few great looking wedges of Maitake mushrooms from Solano Mushroom Farmsa consistent and beloved presence at the Davis Farmer's Market.  This is an exquisitely simple recipe from what (as we explained in a previous post) is one of our "guilty pleasure" cookbooks, Homecooking with Jean-Georges.   

All you do is put the wedges of mushroom on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then roast in a very hot oven (450 degrees) for about twenty minutes.
When they come out of the oven, put one wedge of mushroom on each plate, sprinkle with sesame seeds and a little chopped parsley, and serve with a lime wedge for each person to squeeze a little juice on the hot mushroom.


Finally, the lovely baby fennel bulbs at Good Humus (another beloved market stalwart and visionaries who helped create the Davis market, as many of you know) inspired us to revisit a salad that we wrote about in one of our first posts as "winter turns to spring salad."  It remains a favorite.  

Since we already did a post on it, we won't linger over the recipe but will just remind you of these ingredients now available at the market and how good they taste together:  baby fennel and a bit of chopped fennel fronds (Good Humus), navel oranges (lots to choose from but ours are from Rainwater Ranch), blood oranges (Schletewitz), chopped dates (Siegfried), yuzu-scented olive oil (Yolo Press), pecans (Cadena Ranch) or pistachios (Fiddyment), and Foggy Morning cheese (Nicasio).  Get that tender baby fennel while you can!  



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