Baked Turnips stuffed with Blue Cheese, Mushrooms and Walnuts

Baked Turnips with Spinach, Blue Cheese, Walnuts

Recipe: Baked Turnips stuffed with Blue Cheese, Mushrooms and Walnuts

Ingredients

3 large or 6 small to medium-sized turnips, (about 3 pounds)
1 tablespoon olive oil
6-7 baby bella mushrooms, finely chopped
1 cup cooked spinach, all water squeezed out and chopped*
2 scant teaspoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons crumbled Roquefort, Gorgonzola, or Stilton, crumbled
2 tablespoons walnuts, finely chopped
3 thin pats of unsalted butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375˚.
Trim bottom of turnips so they sit flat without rolling, and cut about 1-2 inches of root end off. Peel turnips. To make a cavity in turnip, with a melon baller, dig out turnip to a depth of 2 inches. Chop turnip finely and set aside.
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Place turnips in pot and boil 10 minutes, or until just tender. Drain and reserve.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté reserved chopped turnips and mushrooms with a pinch of kosher salt until tender, about 10 minutes, then stir in spinach and garlic; cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cheese and walnuts. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
Stuff the turnips with mixture. Bake on center rack of oven 15 minutes. Remove and rub butter pat around turnip and on top of spinach mixture; return to oven for an additional 10 minutes.

*I microwaved 3 cups of chopped, frozen spinach with a bit of water until tender. Then, I pressed the spinach into a fine-mesh colander removing as much liquid as possible, which yielded about 1 cup, chopped fine.

Number of servings (yield): 3