Turnip and Sweet Potato Gratin with Gruyère , Broth and dry White Wine
An easy way to introduce and ease picky eaters to try new vegetables sometimes requires a little bit of creativity and maybe some taste-bud psychology. The idea is not to disguise its true flavors and challenge its nutritional benefits, but to gently ease the idea of something new. Gratins sometimes do the heavy lifting for you by adding aromatic and flavorful spices, cheeses, broth and wine to the dish.
I had some turnips resting on the verge of too long in the refrigerator. This was a good dish to utilize some tasty vegetables and introduce turnips to Hubby for the first time. Turnips are high in vitamin C. See my past post on the health benefits of sweet potatoes in the Roasted Parmesan Sweet Potato recipe.
I’m starting to become more fond of sweet potatoes and enjoyed the turnips in this dish. If you’re a fan of Gruyère you can probably appreciate what this dish delivers in combination with the turnips, sweet potatoes, chicken/vegetable broth and small amount of white wine used in the gratin. Also, adding some paprika between the layers of turnips and sweet potatoes may take this dish up a notch.
I served this sophisticated gratin with some juicy filet mignons (grilled to perfection by the Grill Maestro, himself!), some green beans and lovely glasses of Blackstone’s Pinot Noir (an Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel from Cameron Hughes would be spot on too).
source text modified from Everyday Food, December 2010 Issue
Makes 6-8 Servings
1 1/2 pounds turnips, about 3-4 medium, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 pound sweet potatoes, about 2 medium, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
sea salt and ground pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup grated Gruyère cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick spray.
Arrange turnips and sweet potatoes in a single layer, overlapping the slices slightly. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with one-third of the flour. Repeat to make three more layers, sprinkling with the salt, pepper and flour between layers.
Dot the top layer with butter cubes. Slowly pour the broth and wine into the dish, careful to keep the layers in tact. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes.
Remove baking dish from oven and increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Carefully remove the foil from the top of the baking dish and evenly distribute the grated cheese over the top layer. Bake until the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 12-15 minutes.
Let the gratin sit for about 10 minutes before serving.
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{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
I. Love. This. Recipe.
I saw this recipe last week and knew I had to try it. It is phenomenal!! I didn’t have white wine or gruyere so I substituted mead and a muenster/havarti blend. I also multiplied the entire recipe by 1.5 so I used a bit more cheese and mead. This was a huge hit in my house, my roommates and guest from out of town all loved it! I have a feeling this will be making an appearance on my table come Thanksgiving. And probably a lot before. :)
The mead and cheese blend was a perfect compliment to the root vegetable flavor from the turnips as well as the sweetness from the potatoes, and it was all so perfectly soft and delicious! I can almost taste it now…
Gosh I love this recipe!
Looks amazing! Definitely will have to give it a try. Never have had Gruyere cheese before… I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes that call for it lately, may be time to try that out as well.
I did similar disguises for both vegetables and fish when my kids were little :) This however is amazing with such beautiful flavors, really lovely.
This looked so good I just had to make it last night!:) Yum!!! It was a big hit. I added a drizzle of truffle oil which was nice.
Hi Melissa: Thanks for the feedback – luv your idea of using truffle oil! I need to find me some good truffle oil. Doesn’t the Gruyere just takes this gratin over top! :)
This looks really delicious. I think my boyfriend would love it.
Love your way of introducing an ingredient that most people don’t think of. Cooking with wine adds such and amazing flavor, great recipe!
This looks sinfully delicious. My dad’s birthday is coming up and he is a huge fan of sweet potatoes and potato gratin. Perfect!
I love gratins and I have two picky eaters at the table. Lucky me they both love turnips. Your gratin sounds and looks delicious. Thanks for sharing Cristina
hope you’ll have a wonderful week
Sweet potatoes and turnips + some great cheese, huh? I am not a picky eater but I still want to make this dish!
Fabulous combination. I’ve never tried turnips with sweet potatoes, but it sounds wonderful.
Oh Cristina, this recipe touches my soul! Hehehehe. In all seriousness, there’s nothing NOT to like (I know double negatives are a big no no… :D). Sweet potato + gruyere = heaven (at least in Tiffany’s world)!
Thanks Tiffany…in my world too! Gratins = good food. :)
Gorgeous! I’m pretty sure my kids would eat this – the cheese alone would draw them in!
So my mom adores turnips (her grandfather use to eat them raw) and she LOVES cheese. She loves cheese more than anyone I know. Without a doubt, this recipe would make her float up to foodie heaven! Thank you for sharing yet another tempting and beautiful dish. I’m bookmarking this so I can make it for when she comes back to Texas!
Ohh I love turnips..and this looks incredibly delicious.
Oh that looks yummy! Have enjoyed turnips a few times and really enjoy sweet potatoes. Will have to try this especially since my dad is a gratin lover!
this looks delicious lovely picture
Nummy, nummy. Looks soooo good. I could just have that as my dinner, thanks! :-p
I think the best way of introducing new foods is to coat them in cheese! Great looking gratin!
I don’t care much for turnip, but cooked these way they must be absolutely delicious…I shouldn’t look at your blog when I’m hungry…!
I love a gratin and your fresh twist with the turnip and sweet potato on a classic dish is fabulous! Well done!
What a brilliant and delicious combination! It sure looks mouthwatering!
That is such a great idea! What an unusual and delicious sounding combination! I love turnips (and sweet potatoes, and cheese!)
I loooooove gruyere…what a great, hearty meal.
hi Cristina
now that is certainly thinking outside the box! Turnips and sweet potatoes must have made a wonderful base for that gratin….in all its ooey gooey cheesy glory!!
your images make me even more hungry they look soooo good!
Cheers
Dennis
Mmm, be still my heart! This looks so good! I’ve always been wanting to dive more into the turnip water and like you said, I think this is a good way to ease someone new in :-) Thank you so much for sharing! Happy 2011!
I’ve been experimenting with turnips lately too…it’s all in the creativity — your cheesy dish looks great! Theresa
As a bonafide cheese addict, I have to say, this looks sensational. I love the idea of using sweet potatoes. Perfect!
Cristina, gosh, does this ever look good! Two veggies I love but have never paired with cheese, gruyere, no less. I love it!
What a mouthwatering dish, and I love the whole meal. Lovely. I would love to be a guest.
Seriously, who isn’t a fan of Gruyere? I think you could serve up a gratin of shredded basketballs with Gruyere and I’d try it! This looks much better though…
I like this, the combination of the two veggies with the cheese sounds wonderful. I have to make this soon. Thanks for sharing it.
-Gina-
Oh Cristina, this looks so warm and comforting and absolutely delicious! I love that you took a dish that is normally made with potatoes and put your own little spin on it. It’s beautiful, but I bet it tastes even better than it looks. Definitely something I need to try! Thanks for sharing!
Love a combination of turnips and sweet potatoes! Lots of flavor too. Great idea and beautiful photos!
Hi Cristina :) This looks amazing – at first glance, I thought it was a shrimp gratin!! Not to say that I like it any less without shrimp LOL
Btw – I will continue to follow your posts. I actually stopped following you through FB ages ago!
Yum! No kiddies here, but I’m sure this will work on picky 20-something guys as well :)