Turnip Enchiladas

A vegetarian enchilada stuffed with salsa verde-tossed turnips from the farm share. Also good with a turnip, kohlrabi and potato blend. A Meatless Monday fiesta.

I stumbled across turnips as an enchilada filling by accident. I'd peeled and boiled a bunch of root vegetables from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share then tossed them onto a grill to get a crust. I thought they'd be a side dish.

We had enough other food that after a taste the root mix was pretty much thrown over for the Green Tomato Bacon Jam Burgers and the Confetti Potato Salad.

It's OK, I'm a master at repurposing leftovers. I tossed the mix with salsa verde, added cheese, rolled it up in a tortilla and made enchiladas. That tasted like a blog-worthy recipe right there, let me tell ya.

I'm not going to suggest that you peel-boil-grill a bunch of root vegetables just to stuff some enchiladas, though. I made them again, 4 months later, just to be sure. This time just with turnips and skipping the grill tangent. [Don't worry, I've been grill-tangenting all over the place lately and mmmm, there are some awesome grilled CSA vegetable recipes coming up.] Again the recipe tasted blog-worthy, so here it is.

[Curiously, I grabbed the exact same plate 4 months later, which is completely unplanned. We eat off these plates, so I'm usually just opening the cupboard and grabbing whatever's on top. My daughter carefully stacks the dishes so the 2 stacks are even when it's her turn to unload the dishwasher. My son just piles all of them in the closest stack unless there's no more room, then he shifts a few over. In that instance, she'll come after him and even them out.  The little darlings.]

For other recipes using turnips, please see my Turnip Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. For other enchilada ideas, I made a Clickable Collage of Enchilada Recipes which is on my Clickable Collage of Recipe Suggestions page.

Turnip Enchiladas (can also be made with kohlrabi if you want) makes 8 enchiladas

1 large bunch turnips (3-5, depending on their size, about 4 cups chopped)
1 quart broth (vegetable stock if you're keeping vegetarian, otherwise use what's on hand)
1 can (12-14 ounces) prepared enchilada sauce (or make your own from slow-roasted tomatoes)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
½ cup chopped leeks (can be thawed from frozen, use any other onion-y veggie)
½ cup prepared salsa verde (you can see above that I'd restocked my supply)
2½ cups shredded sharp cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
8 corn tortillas, cooked according to package directions

Peel and chop turnips into large bite-sized cubes. Place in a large (3 qt) saucepan. Add broth and place over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, cover, then turn down the heat to keep at a simmer for 20-25 minutes or until turnips are just easily pierced with a fork. Drain (or drink, or save for soup) the liquid and set aside. You can do this step a day early and keep in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a rectangular pan (7x11 inches works best for my family of 4) pour some of the prepared enchilada sauce to cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer, about ¼ cup. Set aside.
Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat, and add olive oil when it's hot. Sauté leeks for 3-5 minutes until they start to soften, then turn the heat down to medium. Add in the turnips, pour over the salsa verde, stir and heat through.
Add a generous ⅓ cup of the turnip/leek mixture to the center of a cooked corn tortilla, sprinkle with some cheese as shown, roll up and place seam side down in prepared pan. Repeat until you run out of tortillas, then go back and try and tuck the extra filling into the edges of the previously rolled tortillas. Cover with the rest of the enchilada sauce and the rest of the cheese.
Bake for 20-30 minutes until top is browned at the exposed edges of the tortillas, and cheeses are melted.