Grilled Beets and Turmip Patties

For some reason, this post has been languishing in my Draft file.  Obviously it is from late Spring, but the recipes can be used year round since the ingredients can be found year round. 

Since the beets did well in our Fall garden last year we put out more for this year's Spring garden.  I tend to sow a bit heavier than advised because when I thin them out we have beet greens for salads.  So most suppers on our Fast Days have been salads from our garden and some sort of protein source.  What we were looking forward to was the beets being large enough to grill.  Well, that time finally came.

Fresh pulled beets.  This is about half the crop, the rest need another week.

One of the advantages of living on the coast is being able to get fresh seafood at a reasonable cost.  It's even better when I have access to seafood at wholesale costs.  A few months back, we bought a whole fresh salmon at the wholesaler.  After it was filleted out, one side was cut into portions that would make a meal for use and the other side was kept whole to smoke.  All that was not for immediate use went into the vacuum bags and then the freezer.  One of those portions is what got grilled to go with the grilled beets.

Salmon and beets right off the grill.

We are looking at making space for this season's canned goods so I decided to make use of some canned turnips from the fall.  The canned turnips are very soft so I figured mashed turnips or something made with them would be good.  Thus, fried turnip patties were born.

Fried turnip patties hot from the skillet.

For the grilled beets, slice 1/2 inch thick, toss with enough olive oil to coat them, sprinkle with a little kosher salt and grind or two of black pepper.  Once that is done they are ready for the grill.  Grill over direct heat, about medium high on a gas grill, for 5 minutes then turn and cook another 5 minutes or until they reach your desired level of doneness.  The beets have great flavor with a bit of smokiness added to the beet flavor.  The salt and pepper compliment the sweetness of the beet and the texture is soft enough to easily cut with a fork but still firm enough to stick a fork in to pick it up and not be mushy when you put it in your mouth.


The salmon was simply seasoned with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.  The aluminum foil was sprayed with a nonstick spray to keep the skin from sticking.  It went on the grill over direct heat, about medium on the gas grill, and went until it was done, about 10 minutes in this case.  I prefer my salmon a bit less done than this was but it was still juicy, tender, and flavorful.


The turnip patties were a bit of an experiment.  A quick Google for turnip patties only got me recipes for Chinese turnip pancakes and the like.  So I decided to do similar to a potato patty made from left over mashed potatoes. 

A fine supper of grilled salmon, grilled beets, and fried turnip patties.

Fried Turnip Patties


1 pint canned turnips, drained
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
2 good pinches, about1 tsp, kosher salt
6 grinds, about 1/2 tsp, ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs each, minced Marjoram, Oregano, Cilantro
3 Tbs butter, for frying


Squeeze all the liquid from the turnips and put in a bowl and mash.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.  Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.  When it's hot, drop the turnip mix in small portions.  I used a #20 portion scoop that is about 2.5 oz.  Fry until the bottom is brown then flip and fry the other side till it's brown.  Using the #20 scoop this made 5 patties.


Grilled salmon is fairly common but I hope you'll try both the grilled beets and the turnip patties.  It was so good and filling that we didn't eat any popcorn that evening while we watched a movie.


Uncle T