Suzie's Farm & Mini Sweet Potato and Turnip Gratin

My boyfriend and I are the proud new members of a CSA. If you've never heard of a CSA don't feel bad, up until a couple months ago neither had I. It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The idea behind it is simple: "offer fresh, local, organic, and seasonal produce straight from a farm to the community. CSA boxes are offered to shareholders in regular or small sizes, weekly or every other week, for 6 or 12 week commitments." At the moment we are receiving a large box, bi-monthly.

At first I was skeptical. It's no mystery I'm not a huge van of veggies, especially unfamiliar ones. But Robert was really excited about it and with the diet I'm on consisting mostly of vegetables in the end it made a lot of sense to join.  After some research we choose Suzie's Farm as our CSA and so far we are really pleased we did.

Now the first box we got didn't go as well as we had hoped. Excited as we were, we weren't prepare to properly store the amount of veggies we had. We got some use out of 3 or 4 items but most went to waste. We vowed the next box would get more use.

In an effort to make better use of the box, I have been scouring the internet for recipes for each vegetables. I had never tried a turnip, let alone cooked one so when I came across this recipe from Martha Stewart I decided to try it out. I figured she knows what shes doing.

Mini Sweet Potato and Turnip Gratin

 Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 6 small turnips or 3 medium, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
• 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (4 ounces)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 12 cup muffin pan, create one "layer" of sweet potato on the bottom of each, followed by a layer of turnips. Each cup should be two veggie high. Season each cup with salt and pepper and sprinkle with one-third of the flour overall. Repeat two sweet potato and turnip layers and sprinkle with salt, pepper, again. Repeat until you run out of room. 

*NOTE: I tried this two ways. First I whisked the flour, salt, pepper, broth, and wine together. Then after alternating veggies poured the mixture in each cup. The mixture ended up just sitting on the bottom and not holding the vegetables together. So the next time around  I wasn't so lazy  I followed the recipe more closely and it worked out much better.

2. Dot top layer with butter, then slowly pour broth and wine into each cup, keeping layers intact. Cover with foil and bake until vegetables are tender when pierced with a knife, 35-45 minutes. 

3. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Remove foil and sprinkle cheese over dish. Bake until cheese is golden and bubbling, 12 to 15 minutes. Let gratin sit 10 minutes before serving. 

4.  Trust me, it's a good thing :0)