Boil turnips for too long and you’ll have socks juice soup. Cook them just right and you’re being Richard Olney for an instant. Do not confuse turnips with rutabagas; here in Quebec, they hold the same name in French. And if you have some rendered duck fat on hand, please use it in place of the oil and butter.

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　2 tablespoons canola oil

　　12 to 16 Tokyo White turnips (each the size of a golf ball), halved lengthwise, keeping a few leaves intact and reserving the remaining leaves

　　Sea salt and pepper

　　1 tablespoon unsalted butter

　　2 tablespoons maple syrup

　　1 tablespoon cider vinegar

　　1 fresh sage leaf, torn

　　

Step 1

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the turnips with the salt and pepper and cook, tossing them so they don’t burn, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until light brown.

　　

Step 2

Add the butter, maple syrup, vinegar, and sage leaf and reduce for 2 to 3 minutes, or until shiny. Toss in a few of the reserved turnip leaves.

　　

Step 3

Transfer to a serving dish. Finish with a pinch of sea salt on the sheen of the syrup.

　　Reprinted with permission from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef by Frédéric Morin, David McMillan & Meredith Erickson, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.