How to make braised turnips with red onions in thyme cream

Turnip on, tune in and don’t drop out. This underappreciated, slightly peppery root veg has struggled to overcome its Baldrick associations – but Julia Platt Leonard has a cunning plan...

The roots of power: is there no end to turnips’ versatility? (Photos by Julia Platt Leonard)

It’s not that turnips get a bad press – it’s that they don’t get any press at all. Go to a farmer’s market or your local vegetable shop and you’ll rarely see someone fawning over a display of turnips.

Tomatoes, yes. New season potatoes, yes. Turnips no.

If we do think of turnips, it’s often as food for livestock and that’s hardly a winner. But the truth is that turnips are lovely with a mustardy-pepper hit and creamy flesh with the distinct purple blush at the stem end.


 Is anything more appealing than a turnip?
 (Julia Platt Leonard)

They’re great roasted and served alongside chicken or beef and silky smooth when turned into a soup.

They’re also ideal braised in thyme and garlic infused water which softens the flesh and mellows the flavour. An added hit of cream and some oven baked red onions and you’ve got a dish that should make turnips a lot more memorable.

Braised turnips with red onions in thyme cream

Serves 3-4

6 turnips, 400-500g
2 red onions
30g butter
2 large sprigs thyme
1 clove of garlic, peeled and smashed
100-125ml single cream
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 220C. Place the onions in a small baking dish and cover with foil. Bake in the oven for 45mins to 1 hour until the onions are softened and cooked through. Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle, remove the outer skin and set the soft flesh aside.

Wash and trim the tops from the turnips then cut then into 8 wedges. Place the turnips with one of the sprigs of thyme, 15g of butter, the garlic clove, and a generous sprinkling of salt into a deep sided frying pan with lid.

Add water to cover about ⅓ of the way up the turnips. Cook with the lid on over medium heat until the turnips begin to soften.

Remove the lid and continue to cook until the liquid is reduced by about a half. Remove the thyme sprig and garlic. Add the remainder of the butter and 100ml of the cream. Stir to coat. Add the red onions and the leaves from the remaining thyme sprig. Serve hot.

@juliapleonard