There was a time when I thought that turnips were only good for a farmers potage. Boy was I wrong! This warm roast turnip and greens grain salad really allows the delicious turnips to make centre stage and be celebrated.
Made more wholesome by using whole grains, and even more nutritious with some leafy greens, it sure is a winner in my eyes.
When you are getting out your ingredients it may appear that its going to be all greens and no grains, but in the end you will strike a good balance between the two. Your whole grains will expand, and the 200g you cook will yield around 600g of cooked product. Your leafy greens are going to be cooked, so they will cook down.
If you have other leafy greens in the fridge, you can pop those in too. Haven’t cooked your cauliflower yet and it still has its leaves? Perfect candidate for being added to the salad. Because they are being cooked before going into the salad as well, its an easy way to use up greens that are a bit wilted but still fine.
It is vegan, but if you’re a huge butter enthusiast then you can use it to cook your leafy greens instead of oil, which would mean it would then be vegetarian but no longer vegan.
Recipe for Roast Turnip and Greens Grain Salad
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Ingredients:
100g Freekeh
100g Quinoa
3 Medium sized turnips, bulbs and leaves separated
1 Large bunch of silverbeet
3 Sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
3-4 Sprigs of parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
Olive oil, have the jar handy
Salt and Pepper
For serving, a dressing of your choice. Some suggestions below.
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Cut your turnips into chunks, place into a roasting dish, toss with olive oil and salt. Place in oven and cook for 45 minutes.
2. In a large saucepan, boil water then reduce heat to medium. Add your freekeh, cook for 15 minutes. Then add your quinoa and cook for a further 20 minutes, or until tender. Strain and rinse with cool water until cold.
3. Wash and cut your leafy greens. In your saucepan, heat your oil, then add your thyme and any stem parts of your leafy greens until soft. Keep adding your greens and cooking them down until soft.
4. Your greens and turnips should be ready about the same time.
Combine your grains, cooked greens, cooked turnips (save a few for presentation) and parsley in a serving bowl.
5. Dress and serve warm
Cut and roast turnips 
Sauté leafy greens with some oil or butter
Dressing
The flavour of the salad it quite earthy, so I really like to add some strong acidity to the dressing to lift the salad.
There is a good infographic on this page that shows you measurements and different ingredients that can be used to make a vinaigrette. Everyone has different tastes, and also different things lying around in the pantry and fridge! Winter means citrus. So, if you have some leftover citrus from our fruit box, you can use that as your acid.
At home, I’ve made a EVOO, lemon and mustard mix to compliment the salad.
Bon appétit.
