Recipe: Potatoes and Turnips in a Cheese Sauce

This is not a health food.  I left the skins on the potatoes.  I used turnips, which are reasonably healthy.  I used whole-wheat flour and low-sodium broth in the sauce.  Still, this is not a health food.  It is not a health food and that is okay.  Sometimes it's okay to indulge in something a little over-the-top.  Sometimes it's okay to indulge in something that is not super-healthy.  Sometimes it's okay to eat something that is Off The Plan.

Sometimes it is okay to eat cheese.  

I'm sure that they'll be kicking down my door momentarily, but really, it isn't rational to expect everyone to eat rabbit food all of the time.  Most people can be trusted to make their own food choices based on their own needs and their own circumstances without intervention from outside forces, even if those choices are not the same choices that someone else might make under the same circumstances.  A cold, dark, rainy autumn day is a suitable day for a nice cheesy dish.  I wouldn't eat it every day, even if we were to get a spate of cold, dark, rainy autumn days in a row.  It probably wouldn't even be all that good every day.  But once in a while, cheese is fine.  The flavor wasn't strong, it was actually kind of bland.  That was fine; the flavors in the other dishes were actually strong and kind of sour, so the bland-ish flavor of this dish made a perfect foil for the others.  And the flavor wasn't bland.  It wasn't white-bread or plain white rice flavor.  It had flavor and I had a hard time leaving it alone.  It was cheese flavored.  Bland-ish.  

I did screw up the sauce a bit.  My intent was to layer slices of cheddar cheese in with the slices of potato.  Unfortunately someone was talking at me while I was trying to make the sauce and I put the cheddar into the sauce instead of the montgrappa.  I did in fact curse roundly at the person who did not stop talking despite the fact that I was clearly trying to concentrate on something else, but the damage was done.  I used it anyway, but the texture of the finished product was not what I intended.  Oh well.  It still tasted fine, and the fact that it wouldn't keep just meant we had to eat all of it that night.  

Potatoes and Turnips in a Cheese Sauce (serves 4 - 6; approx. $4.40/serving)

5 medium potatoes, thinly sliced

2 large Hakurei turnips, thinly sliced

8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, thinly sliced

2 cups shredded Montgrappa cheese

2 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 stick butter

Equipment:

• Roasting pan
• Medium saucepan
• Another medium saucepan
• Colander

1. Preheat your oven to 425︒.
2. Fill the medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
3. Add the potato slices and par-boil for about 5 - 7 minutes.  Drain.  This will enable the potatoes to finish cooking at about the same time as the turnips.
4. Melt the butter in the other saucepan.
5. Stir in the flour.  Keep stirring until the scent of the mixture becomes vaguely nutty.  This is a roux.  Keep a close eye on this process as it will burn very quickly. 
6. When the scent becomes nutty, add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
7. Boil until the sauce is thickened and reduced by a bit.  
8. Add in the cheddar cheese and remove from heat.  Stir until the cheese is melted and the mixture is smooth.  
9. Lay the turnips and potato slices on a diagonal in the roaster.  
10. Sprinkle about half of the Montgrappa on the vegetables.
11. Pour the sauce over the vegetables, then sprinkle the remaining Montgrappa over the top.
12. Bake until the top of the mixture is bubbly and well browned.  
13. Let stand ten minutes and serve.

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