Boulder Market Meals: Panzanella salad with local Hakurei turnips

Market Meals is a collaboration between Boulder Reporting Lab and the Boulder County Farmers Markets, featuring weekly seasonal recipes built around ingredients from local growers, ranchers and food producers. Find it in Nibbles every Tuesday and on Boulder Reporting Lab. Sign up to get Nibbles in your inbox.

As the summer continues to inch closer, we begin to see more variety popping up at farmers markets and roadside farm stands across Boulder County. When Hakurei turnips make their first appearance, they signal more fresh seasonal flavors are just around the corner.

Hakurei — it rhymes with “samurai” — is not your grandfather’s big starchy root. Once you taste them, you will understand the difference.

When the uninitiated walk by the small white turnips without a second glance, they are missing out on their bright, sweet flavor, crunch and versatility. Hakurei can be eaten on their own, roasted in the oven, or incorporated into a fresh salad. In this week’s recipe, they stand in for sweet onions in a Panzanella Salad recipe. While field vegetables are yet to be harvested, local greenhouse-grown cherry tomatoes and cucumbers are available, along with fresh sourdough bread, basil and microgreens.

Panzanella Salad with Charred Cucumber Dressing

1 bunch Hakurei turnips
About 1 pint cherry tomatoes
About 6 mini English cucumbers
⅓ loaf fresh unsliced sourdough bread
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
About 1 tablespoon maple syrup
About ⅓ cup avocado oil
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Microgreens for garnish

Slice or tear bread into 1-inch cubes. Toss in a little avocado oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and toast in a 325 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Slice cherry tomatoes in half and place in a large bowl. Slice turnips thinly, and then slice again to create small matchsticks and add to the bowl. Slicing thinly allows flavor distribution throughout each bite.

Thinly slice four cucumbers, and toss all sliced vegetables together with about half the dressing. Gently fold in the bread cubes. Garnish with microgreens and serve with extra dressing.

To make the dressing, char the outside of two mini cucumbers over your gas stove, allowing the skin to blacken, rotating every 30 seconds. If you are firing up your grill, you can grill the cucumbers before making the salad. Chop cucumbers into chunks, and puree in a blender with vinegar, maple syrup, avocado oil and salt. Mix in thinly sliced basil leaves. Taste and tweak the flavor, and serve.

Panzanella salad features fresh local Hakurei turnips in a charred cucumber dressing. Credit: Boulder County Farmers Markets

What’s fresh this week? Boulder County farmers expect to have green onions, bok choy, carrots, mushrooms, spinach, greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, rhubarb, spicy mustard greens, radishes, asparagus and more available this week.