Cardamon and Balsamic Roasted Turnips.

We Cornish call swedes “turnips”, we call turnips, “turnips” or white turnips. In the US swedes are “rutabaga” and turnips “turnips”. Are you confused yet?

As I have mentioned before I loved veggie recipes and mixing flavours, and here we have swedes and turnips along with the heady flavours of cardamon and gorgeous balsamic.

For 2 generous servings [very easy to double, quadruple etc]

6 oz each of diced swede and white turnips [peeled, diced weight]

Rapeseed oil or a good olive oil

3 or 4 crushed cardamon seeds, shells discarded

1 tablespoon Maple syrup

1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar

a few crushed red chilli flakes for a little kick

a pinch of nutmeg - always use nutmeg with veggies!!!

Sea Salt [flakes are best] and freshly ground pepper

Quickly blanch the swede in boiling water for 5 mins, add the turnip for the last minute, then drain. Meanwhile heat a baking tray with some oil generously brushed over the bottom. Tip the hot veg onto the tray, toss and bake in a hot oven, about 190 degC for about 20 mins, turning a couple of times.

In a little dish mix all the other ingredients along with another good tablespoon of rapeseed oil and the seasoning. Take the turnips out of the oven and spoon over the mix and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes or thereabouts, turning halfway through. Timing will depend on how small you have cubed your veg.

The smell from the cardamon and balsamic is just amazing and blends perfectly with the turnips. The maple syrup adds just the right touch of sweetness. Don’t forget that swedes take longer to cook than turnips so you need to cook  them for a little longer in the beginning. I could make a meal out of this!

You can easily use all swede or all turnips but I loved the mix of different flavours.