Turnip Gratin Two Ways

It seems that turnips are in season since I have had an overabundance of them.  I have never really had many turnips in my life so when I googled turnips a lot of Gratin recipes showed up.  This is the first one I tried

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/11/turnip-gratin/

Since rutabagas are also in season, I mixed some of those in.  Unfortunately, the recipe didn't quite work out the way she says it does.  Twenty minutes was not long enough to cook all the vegetables.  I think they ended up being in close to an hour and still needed more time.

The dish is pretty but was not our favorite.  In addition to some overly crunchy veggies, we agreed we aren't really crazy about rutabagas.

Attempt number two.  This one came from a Greenling email.

Turnip & Blue Cheese Gratin

Any root vegetable can be used, this is a great "clean the fridge" recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 large leek or sping onions- cleaned, and cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
• 2 large turnips, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup cubed butternut squash
• 4 large mushrooms, sliced
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter a 2 quart casserole dish, rub with one of the garlic cloves, and sprinkle with a little salt. Set aside.

Heat the half-and-half in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme, bay leaf and both garlic cloves. Remove from the heat just before it boils.
Place the leek, turnip, squash, mushrooms and carrots into a large saucepan and fill with about 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil, cover and steam over medium heat for about 5 minutes. 

Drain and layer vegetables into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle rosemary in between the layers. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle blue cheese and Gruyere cheese over the top. Strain the half-and-half and pour into the casserole.

Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven until vegetables are tender and sauce is thick, about 40 minutes. Uncover for the last 20 minutes to allow the top to brown.

For starters, my first attempt at this meal ended me in the emergency room with a nice slice in my finger nail from the mandolin.  Second attempt, I cubed all the veggies instead of slicing them.  For future reference, it turned out just fine.  The veggies that I chose to use were turnips, potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Just for the fun of it, I topped it with cooked bacon.  You should do that too.  This one was much better than the first and would do it again.