Oven Baked Turnip Chips and A Class on Canning

I had a beautiful bunch of turnips in my CSA basket a few weeks back.

I don’t cook much with turnips. I’ll sometimes throw them into a vegetable mash during the fall and winter months but other than that, they don’t find a home in my kitchen often.

Not wanting to waste them, the only other thing I could think of was some kind of soup. It’s been so hot here the past few weeks that the idea of making soup just wasn’t really working for me. A fellow farm goer and good friend, Becca, suggested I make some turnip chips.

Turnip chips?

Yeah, that’s what I thought too. But then I thought about it some more and became totally intrigued. I’ve made oven chips with russet potatoes and sweet potatoes but it never occurred to me to think outside the root vegetable box. So one afternoon, I made a date with a beautiful bunch of turnips and my oven.

Slightly bitter but perfect with just a little bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt, they were pretty delicious.

I thought they made for a delightful afternoon snack but my husband wasn’t so convinced. Friends of his were visiting from New York and stopped by for a quick hello. They both thought commented on how great they were. So either my husband doesn’t know what he’s talking about or his friends are very polite liars.

I was expecting (hoping) the turnips would get nice and crisp but they didn’t exactly. Some got crisp but none of them got really crisp. I kept baking them in hopes they would develop a nice crunch but I didn’t want to over cook them. I think the key is getting them nice and thin. I use a mandolin to cut mine but I think I’d even go thinner when I make them next.

I think these would be beautiful paired with some sweet potato chips and bowl of blue cheese dressing, no? I think these are going to be in my near catering future!

And not to totally switch gears here but I wanted to share some information with any readers that live in the Salt Lake City area. My food friend and fellow food blogger, Rebecca Brenner, is teaching a series of canning classes at the Viking Cooking School over the next month. Becca is extremely passionate and knowledgeable when it comes to food preservation. She believes in eating sustainably and organically and will show class goers how to preserve some of summers deliciousness!

For more information, feel free to email me or check out Becca’s website or contact Jill at Bell Organics.

Hope to see you at one of them!