Turnip Salad with Yogurt, Herbs & Poppy Seeds

I saw this salad in a cookbook I really like called Six Seasons.

I have mentioned that I like to clean my refrigerator of all my vegetable odds and ends the day before my CSA pick-up. I did that today and found I had everything I needed for this nice herby salad.

I pretty much followed the recipe. I made a couple changes. I’ll note the changes in the recipe.

TURNIP SALAD WITH YOGURT, HERBS & POPPY SEEDS
SERVES: 4

1 bunch of Japanese turnips, with their tops if they’re nice and fresh, or use any greens you have for the salad bed.
1 lemon, halved
1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
about 1 cup lightly packed mixed herbs: (mint leaves, parsley leaves, chives, and sorrel is what I had) finely chop those
4 scallions, trimmed including the green tops
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup poppy seeds
honey to taste

Preparation

Slice the turnips as thin as you can. If you have a mandolin, use it; otherwise a sharp knife will work just fine.

Rinse, dry and roughly chop what ever greens you are using. Toss them with a little olive oil and a little vinegar. I used red wine vinegar.

Put the turnips in a large bowl and squeeze half of the lemon. Add the chili flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and plenty of black pepper and toss to blend. Add the yogurt and toss again. Add the herbs, scallions, and about 1/4 cup olive oil and toss again. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. This is where I added a little honey, it wasn’t in the original recipe but I thought it needed a little sweetness to counter the tang of the yogurt and the tartness of the lemon.
Scatter about half of the poppy seeds on the bottom of the platter or individual serving
plates, top with the turnip salad, and finish the the rest of the poppy seeds.

This was really good and would go really well with some grilled fish or meat or just some bread and cheese.