Maple-Glazed Baby Vegetables

I'm sure my love of mini foods has not gone unnoticed around here. So I'm also sure you won't be surprised to learn that when I saw baby vegetables at the Siena Farms stand at the Charles Square Farmers Market, I couldn't keep myself from buying some.

I came home with a bag each of baby purple-topped turnips, rainbow baby beets, and "imperfect" baby brussels sprouts and then worked on finding a recipe that would incorporate all of them.

I turned to New England Home Cooking, remembering that I had seen an interesting turnip recipe in there: Northeast Kingdom Maple-Glazed Braised Turnips. Northeast Kingdom refers to the upper-right quadrant of Vermont, where turnips are grown. The recipe suggests that sweet maple syrup mellows the bite turnips are known for. I decided this recipe could suit all of my baby vegetables.

Because brussels sprouts can be braised too, I figured I'd throw them in toward the end of the turnip cooking time. (Unfortunately a lot of my brussels sprouts were really imperfect, so I didn't end up with a ton of usable ones -- that's why you'll see so few in the finished dish.) And then I decided to roast the baby beets and stir them in with the other baby vegetables just before serving.

I roasted my baby beets separately for several reasons, the first being that I didn't want to risk their turning the turnips pink. The second being that it's much easier to remove the skin from roasted beets. And the last being that, for some reason I'll never understand, many of you don't like beets. Roasting them on the side makes it very easy for those of you who'd rather leave them out of the recipe to do so.

I made a meal out of these baby vegetables by serving them with tri-color Israeli couscous, but they'd make a great side dish for a larger meal as well. They're caramel-y sweet but balanced with a hint of sharpness from the mustard and turnips.

Maple-Glazed Baby Vegetables (adapted from New England Home Cooking)

Ingredients

10 ounces assorted baby beets, scrubbed and tops and bottoms trimmed
1 tablespoon sunflower or canola oil
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons maple syrup
10 ounces purple-top baby turnips, peeled and halved
10-12 baby brussels sprouts
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Harvest Coarse Ground mustard

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place beets on piece of foil on sheet pan.

Drizzle sunflower oil over beets, and season with salt and pepper.

Fold foil up around beets, and bake for 25 minutes, or until knife slides easily into beets. Cool and peel. (The easiest way to remove the skin is to push it off the beets with a paper towel.) Halve or quarter any larger beets.

Melt butter in Dutch oven. Stir in broth and maple syrup, and bring to a simmer.

Add turnips, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer, about 10 minutes or until turnips are nearly tender.

Add brussels sprouts, and simmer, covered, for another 5 to 10 minutes, until turnips and brussels sprouts are tender.

Using slotted spoon, transfer turnips and brussels sprouts to a bowl, leaving liquid in pot. Raise heat and boil liquid until reduced by half, about 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the mustards.

Transfer turnips, brussels sprouts, and beets to sauce, and stir to coat.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

What's the best vegetable dish you've had lately?