Shrimp & Turnip Rounds with Hoisin-Sake Sauce

Percentage-wise, few people use variety in the kitchen. Most people, I think, believe variety somehow takes longer- costs more- is too much work. For me, I think variety often comes from what you already have on hand. The cupboards, the freezer, the shelves. For this one, I wanted to use turnips as my base ingredient. Sweet, yet bitter- they're interesting. But I didn't want them alone, so...

Peel and cube (1/4") 2 small turnips, pan fry for about 5-7 minutes, until nicely browned and soft
pan fry 4 or 5 shrimp with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and butter- cool and dice (1/4")
Cook a handful of edamame according to instructions, cool, separate beans, discard shells
[here's what I did - 2 dates, chopped- the result was horrible. The tasted blended well, but not the texture. Maybe if I let the dates rest in warm water for 20 minutes, or something, but that's up to you.]
[here's what I should have done - 2 strips of bacon, cooked crisp, then chopped. The salt would add a nice variety, and the texture would have been amazing in this simple dish.]

Stack it all. Layers are attractive, but you could also put everything in a bowl, and mix. I used a biscuit cutter to mold this one.

Then I figured I needed a sauce. Since I added edamame, I figured something Asian-influenced would pair well.

1/4 Cup sake, add to small pot, bring to quick boil, then lowest heat setting.
Add 1-2 TSP hoisin sauce, stir quickly- don't let it burn or settle on the bottom of the pot.

Heat this, stirring constantly, for maybe 2 minutes, then drizzle over your vegetables.

In this picture, you also see a blood orange vinaigrette over pan fired crispy chicken. I'll let you know about that one in a different post.

Enjoy!

~ Brock