Turnip & Bacon Fritters
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to come up with this fritters recipe. Turnips and bacon have been a favorite flavor combination of mine for sometime now but I’ve never thought to prepare them together this way. These fritters are a breeze to prepare and I have our Tumbleweed Farm CSA members in mind for this recipe because they’re receiving a lot of turnips these days and I thought this would be a fun way to serve them up. I love making fritters out of pretty much any vegetable– beets, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, zucchini, potatoes, rutabegas and more. However, this may just be my new favorite fritter recipe and I think the bacon and turnip greens have something to do with that! And hey, if you don’t have turnips you can substitute with any root vegetable really. The flavor will be different but the method should work just fine. Remember quality ingredients are key here so make sure to pick up your veggies and bacon from your local farmers market or a good grocery store.
Happy cooking everyone!
Turnip & Bacon Fritters
Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 10-15 minutes Serves: 4-6
- 3 slices of thick cut bacon, roughly chopped
- 3 cups grated turnips (use a box grater or the grating attachment on a food processor and make sure to drain the shredded turnips in a tea towel to release excess water)
- 1 cup chopped turnip greens
- 1 large egg
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup finely grated hard cheese, (we used Sleeping Beauty from our local cheese shop but any hard, mildly salty cheese will work-- like a Parmesan)
- ½ cup unbleached all purpose flour
- Bacon fat or another cooking fat for frying
- Yogurt or creme fraiche for serving
- Crushed red pepper flakes for serving (optional)
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 250F.
- In a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat fry the chopped bacon until fully cooked and slightly crispy. Remove from the pan and let drain on a paper towel lined plate. Reserve the cooking fat.
- In a large bowl combine the grated turnips (that have been squeezed pretty dry in a dish towel) with the bacon, turnip greens, egg, salt and pepper, grated cheese and flour. Mix until well combined.
- In the same skillet heat about 2 tablespoons of the reserved bacon grease over medium-high heat. Spoon 1/4 cup of the mixture into the skillet and flatten it gently with a spatula. Add 2-3 more fritters to the pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown and crisp. Transfer the batch to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven until you finish the rest of the fritters.
- Serve with yogurt or creme fraiche and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Notes
Use this recipe as a guide and adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary
I made these last night for dinner (to go with shrimp, a lobster tail and green salad). They were so dang good, I am eating the leftover fritters this morning for breakfast topped with an egg over easy. Perfect! Thanks for another great recipe!