Vegetable Combinations

We’re 907 recipe cards in and this is the first rutabaga mention.

That is, rutabaga if you live in the U.S. or Canada. They’re Swedes in England and Australia; they’re kalrots in Sweden; and they’re neeps or baigies in Scotland. This is the sort of thing that happens when you’re a vegetable that’s only about four hundred years old. I’m sure they have a name in German, too, but they’re not particularly well-loved, since they’re associated with wartime food shortages, there.

(Click the picture for the photo attribution, as per usual.)

Rutabagas are cross between turnips and cabbages, and are often culinarily considered a variety of turnip. They stand in for root vegetables anywhere, which is to say that anything you could do with a potato, you could do with a rutabaga. Fried, mashed, scalloped, sauteed, boiled, roasted or even grilled. They’re slightly bitter (though not generally as bitter as standard turnips) and slightly sweet at the same time, making them a good match for assertive dishes, particularly ones with a strong acid component.

You shouldn’t be intimidated. If you end up with particularly strong rutabagas, boiling them before using them in whatever other application you’ve got in mind will help leech out some of the bitterness.

From a box sold in Chicago, Illinois.

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