Rutabaga, yellow turnip, swede, neeps, tumshie whatever the name, it’s one of those vegetables that’s a love it or leave it choice. There really isn’t a middle ground with turnips, while some start watering at the mouth with the smell of them cooking, others run from the room.
The general consensus is the best way to serve is to mash. The secret is to cut the rutabaga up into equal size pieces. Not an easy task as it is a fairly dense root, but a good large sharp knife will do the trick.
The easiest way to peel is to cut into quarters and use the knife to slice the waxy skin off, there is a pithy layer that is slightly bitter just under the skin so don’t be afraid to take a good slice off. Cutting into quarters gives you 2 flat surfaces to place onto the cutting board, slice around the bottom of the quarter then turn over and do the same to the other edge. You now have only to slice the center of the quarters to peel all the waxy layer off. Then cut into 1/2 cubes, being careful to watch your fingers as you slice.
Take a large pot with salted water and bring the water up to a boil, add the rutabaga and boil until fork tender. Drain, add butter and a little salt and pepper and mash. It’s that simple.
If you have a good stand mixer with a paddle blade it will do a great job of the mashing. They do get better if they sit overnight and are rewarmed the next day, simply put into a baking pan and heat with a few pats of butter on the top, serve hot.
Rutabaga
There are of course other ways to serve. In Finland there is a casserole starring the rutabaga made for Christmas it adds milk breadcrumbs, molasses, egg, ginger,pepper, nutmeg and salt. Another way to serve is to combine with a few carrots in the mash or add sour cream, in fact the choices are endless. You can add with other winter root vegetables and roast or just oven roast by itself. Slice into very thin julienne to serve on a salad. Cut into small cubes it can be added to stews or pureed to thicken soups .
So the next time your in the grocery store, pick a couple up and give it a try. Add it to your repertoire.
While I do find the aroma interesting, they will certainly never replace a nice slice of roast beef or turkey and I’m not that crazy about vegetables by themselves so 3 paws for the effort.
I had a friend ask if I could make her a dessert for her family for the day before Thanksgiving. She had relatives coming into town on Wednesday and was planning a big dinner. The first couple of ideas that came to mind would have required her to bake or prepare in some way so I crossed them off my list. I thought of Tiramisu, but she was making a coffee gravy brisket so that would have been too much coffee. I finally settled on an Autumn Cheesecake, it’s not a traditional Thanksgiving dessert and so it won’t compete with the next days offerings, yet it still is festive.
It is a fairly easy to make recipe, with great results.
Autumn Cheesecake Ingredients
For the crust
8-9 Graham crackers finely chopped to crumbs = 1+ cups
1/2 cup very finely chopped pecans
3 Tbs Sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 Tbs butter melted
For the Batter
2 -8oz packages cream cheese softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
For the apple layer
7-8 baking apples (ie: Granny Smith)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
For the topping
4-5 Tbs apricot preserve melted
1/4 cup chopped pecans (lightly toasted optional)
Directions for the Autumn Cheesecake
For the Apple layer:
Peel and core the apples and slice thinly add to the sugar and cinnamon and mix well until all the apples are coated. Set aside.
For the crust:
Preheat oven to 350°
In a small sauce pan melt the butter
In the food processor add the pecans and chop until very fine, add the Graham crackers and pulse until finely chopped and put mixture into a bowl. Add the butter and with a fork stir to combine, until all the cracker is wet with butter and no dry parts are still visible.
Place the mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan and press down to form a solid bottom crust. Place into the center of the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, remove to a wire rack to cool..
For the batter:
In the bowl of the mixer place the softened cream cheese and the sugar and on medium speed cream until well combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl and the blades of the mixer add the vanilla and on medium low add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat until each is well incorporated. Pour into the cooled springform pan and smooth the mixture level.
Apples:
Arrange the apples in decorative layer over the batter and then place the pan into the oven and bake for about 70 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.
In the mean time melt the preserve and once the apples a lightly cooled brush the preserve over apples to coat all and give a nice sheen to the top. Sprinkle the pecans over the apples. Now carefully run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen from the sides of the pan and then cover and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, overnight even better.
Remove from the refrigerator about an hour before serving and remove the sides of the springform pan. Sit back and wait for the Ohhs and Ahhs!
The Official Taste Tester
I’m a very spoiled SAP (Scottish American Princess) and I don’t care for cinnamon, but the cheese and cake layers are divine! So a reluctant 5 paws for the effort.
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Peel and core the apples and slice thinly add to the sugar and cinnamon and mix well until all the apples are coated. Set aside.
FOR THE CRUST
Preheat oven to 350°
In a small sauce pan melt the butter
In the food processor add the pecans and chop until very fine, add the Graham crackers and pulse until finely chopped and put mixture into a bowl. Add the butter and with a fork stir to combine, until all the cracker is wet with butter and no dry parts are still visible.
Place the mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan and press down to form a solid bottom crust. Place into the center of the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, remove to a wire rack to cool..
FOR THE BATTER
In the bowl of the mixer place the softened cream cheese and the sugar and on medium speed cream until well combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl and the blades of the mixer add the vanilla and on medium low add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat until each is well incorporated. Pour into the cooled springform pan and smooth the mixture level.
APPLES
Arrange the apples in decorative layer over the batter* and then place the pan into the oven and bake for about 70 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.
In the mean time melt the preserve and once the apples a lightly cooled brush the preserve over apples to coat all and give a nice sheen to the top. Sprinkle the pecans over the apples. Now carefully run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen from the sides of the pan and then cover and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, overnight even better.
Remove from the refrigerator about an hour before serving and remove the sides of the springform pan. Sit back and wait for the Ohhs and Ahhs!
Notes
8-9 Graham crackers equals approximately 1+ cups
Rants Raves and Recipes https://www.rantsravesandrecipes.com/
After Christmas the biggest holiday that people spend the most money on is Halloween. Trick or Treaters, parties, decorations, costumes, parties, scary movies, great food ideas. Seems like many years ago October 31st was more fun. Before the “politically correct” banned it from schools, before idiots started putting pins and razors in treats.
When my kids were young the build up to Halloween was almost like the build up to Christmas. Many hours spent deciding on the right costume. Finding the perfect pumpkin.
One year while traveling out to the end of Long Island I passed a very old farm stand and saw the biggest pumpkin I had ever seen. It took a lot of work but I got it home and a tradition was born, that year the pumpkin was as big as the kids, and every year after we would take a trip out to the farm stand for the Jack O’Lantern.
When we first moved into our house my wife said to me, one day, how unfriendly the man across the street was.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well every day I wave to him and he just ignores us!” she answered.
“Didn’t you notice the long white cane he taps in front of himself as he walks? He’s blind!”
So one year my wife decided to dress the kids as London Bobbies. We had the hats and little badges ,moustaches ,dark blue shirts she sewed bright buttons on and we managed to find tiny plastic handcuffs.
The first house to Trick or Treat at was our neighbor across the street. The kids rang the bell and he answered.
“Trick or Treat” they chimed.
He reached into a bowl set up by the door and attempted to toss the candy package into each of their pumpkins.
He missed both.
They looked down at the treats on the sidewalk, looked up at him, looked at each other and both shrugged their shoulders, bent down picked up the treat and put in the pumpkin and thanked him.
I do miss those days. So since Halloween is a big deal we’ll start to work up some of our favorite recipes and post them over the next few weeks.
