When my pal Erika gave me a bottle of her new product, “Not Ketchup”, I couldn’t wait to try it out. I received a bottle of her smoky date style and decided to try it first as a marinade for a pork tenderloin – which was a huge hit.
Interestingly, Erika’s “Not Ketchup” is fruit-based rather than tomatoes, although I guess tomatoes are technically a fruit. I was thrilled to see that NK’s sodium level was less than my expensive organic ketchup. This stuff tastes terrific and I’m eager to try the other varieties of Not Ketchup, as soon as I can find them in San Diego.
After last night’s supper, I still had half a bottle and thought I’d try this simple recipe for turnip fries, featured in last December’s issue of Cooking Light. Their recipe pairs the fried with homemade pomegranate ketchup, which looked pretty good, but I subbed my Not Ketchup.
I deliberately bought fairly small turnips, between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball, hoping for as sweet a flavor as possible. I also broke down and bought some garlic salt, although I use salt sparingly and would prefer to use fresh garlic whenever possible. Because I was pretty certain fresh garlic would burn quickly, I added a pinch of the garlic salt. Cutting the turnips into matchsticks is a little tedious, but the size insures the “crunch factor”.
My oven runs a little hot but I still had issues with both the cooking time and temperature setting in the original recipe. I lowered the heat by 50 degrees after I scorched the first batch – and they baked much faster than predicted.
Thanks, Erika, I love your product and wish you great good luck in marketing and sales. Although I received this as a gift, my opinions are my own and, if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t be blogging about it.
- 3 medium-sized turnips, peeled
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
- ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ cup Smoky Date Not Ketchup
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Preheat half sheet pan.
- Cut the peeled turnips into one-inch matchsticks.
- Toss turnips with olive oil, then cornmeal, Parmesan and garlic salt.
- Spread out on sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes. Flip the fries, rotate pan in oven and cook another 5 minutes - or until browned.
- Serve hot with Smoky Date Not Ketchup.
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I’ve never seen turnips cooked this way, great idea! How creative you are!
I’m not a huge fan of turnips but these tasted pretty good, especially with the dipping sauce. Thanks, Jayne.
Yum! I love the flavor of turnips when they’re baked. Great idea making them into fries. I bet they are delicious dipped in that smoky date Not Ketchup, too!
I was surprised by how tasty they were, Barbara.
Your friends dipping sauce sounds really nice, bet that pork tenderloin was amazing. Never tried turnips made like that, I think with the cornmeal and cheese crust and that dipping sauce it would be wonderful.
The pork was delicious – unfortunately, I lost my light before it was ready to eat – hence, the quick snap before roasting.
I love root veggie fries. Yours look great with the crispy crust. Great idea to use the cornmeal.
The cornmeal was Cooking Light’s idea – but it was a good one 😉
Once you see those tiny little turnips in the market, you know spring has sprung. Strange we never had winter though… GREG
I know, Greg, we are so dry here in San Diego –
I love new creative uses for turnips. i can’t wait to try this.
I hope you try them, Cathy –
I’ve never had turnips this way! I met Erika with you, it is so nice that she has introduced these sauces, wow 🙂 They look wonderful Liz.
Thanks, Wendy, I forgot that you met Erika at IFBC – we need another conference!
Why have I never heard of turnip fries before….they sound amazing!
I will be making these again, Steve –
Liz, you had me at fry! This would be a great way to get picky eaters to try new veggies. Love!
They were pretty good –
I’ve never tried turnip fries before and I’m not even sure what I have tried with turnips in it, but somehow I know that they are delicious! These look so tasty. I’m intrigued by the Not Ketchup sauce, does it taste like ketchup? Thanks for sharing, this all looks scrumptious!
I liked them OK – the sauce is more like a BARBQ sauce than ketchup.