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.
My son came to visit and we needed different dinners every night. So once he went back up north, I was inundated with an abundance of leftovers. My favorite pass time is to try and figure out different combinations to use up leftovers and this was a winner on two counts, it used up a lot of stuff and it tasted great.
I had a tupperware of steamed broccoli, another of roasted carrots, in another about a cup and a half of chicken gravy, a small baguette of garlic bread,some leftover slices of sharp cheddar cheese, in another a small amount of sour cream.
I cubed the garlic bread and placed it into a large bowl, added the broccoli and carrots and gravy and added about 1 Tbs of rosemary and 1 Tbs of sage mixed this up well and then added about 1 1/2 cups of milk into which I scrambled 4 eggs to form a custard. Combined everything well. Placed everything into a 9 X 9 inch baking pan that was greased with vegetable spray, put the cheddar cheese slices on top, and placed in a 350° oven for about 45 minutes until the custard was set. Once set I took it out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes, then served with sour cream.
Not exactly gourmet but it certainly ended up as a easy and tasty way to use up the leftovers. Hopefully this will give someone out there ideas of their own. Substitute creme fraiche for sour cream,add whatever you think will go together well and with a few herbs and spices perk it up for a great dinner.
The Official Taste Tester
I do love carrots, the green stuff not so sure but it was covered with chicken gravy and custard, yummy! I personally would have hidden a nice beef bone inside but then I’m not the chef. 5 paws even with out the meat.
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Eggplant rollatini, “rollatini” not being a truly Italian word, some suggest involtini, however this word in Italian implies a small bite ie: an hors d’ oeuvres, but rollatini is certainly a stand alone main dish.
As with it’s name there are certainly many variations to the recipe. It is after all a recipe so feel free to experiment, nothing is written in stone!
This version is a simple to make. You can certainly prepare a homemade sauce if you want, and you can add or delete whatever you want to the filling
“To peel or not to peel, that is the question”, and of course the answer is up to you. For years I peeled all my eggplant but in an adventurous mood I prepared a few dishes with unpeeled eggplant and was surprised to find that the skin is quite delicious. In this recipe unpeeled makes a nice presentation to the dish. However in the example we made the eggplants available at our local market weren’t that great so I peeled them.
A slight aside we forgot to take a finished photo because it smelled so good and we were so hungry.
Ingredients for Eggplant Rollatini
3 -4 Large Eggplants sliced into 1/8 – 1/4 inch lengthwise slices
2 Tbs vegetable oil for pan
18 ounces ricotta cheese
1/2 pound grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese + 1/4 – 1/2 cup for topping
1 large jar your favorite sauce
salt & pepper
1 Tbs dried oregano
2 eggs
Directions for Eggplant Rollatini
Preheat oven to 375°
Take the sliced eggplant and salt both sides to remove excess water and avert a bitter taste, place into a colander and allow to drain for about 15 minutes. Then take the eggplant, rinse off the salt and pat dry. Each eggplant should leave you with a few small slices from the sides that won’t be large enough to roll, take these and finely dice them and in a small fry pan with a little olive oil and 1 clove of garlic sauté until tender, place cooked eggplant into a bowl and allow to cool.
Take a large cast iron fry pan and put on medium high heat, brush lightly with oil and place a few of the eggplant slices at a time into the pan and allow to slightly char on both sides, remove to a wire rack to cool and continue to cook all the eggplant slices.
While the eggplant cools in a large bowl place the ricotta, mozzarella, 1/4 cup of Parmesan, the salt and pepper, the oregano, and eggs,and the sautéd diced eggplant and mix thoroughly.
Take the eggplant and place a spoonful of the filling on the thin end and roll gently up. Place in a baking pan, seam side down, that has a little sauce spread on the bottom to keep the eggplant from sticking to the pan. Continue until all the slices are done and in the pan.* Spoon sauce over the top of the rolls and sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
* if you have left over filling you can use it, by adding more cheeses and making baked ziti or some other cheesy recipe the next day
The Official Taste Tester
I’m torn! Love the cheeses and love the sauce, but really why would you think it goes with vegetables? Stuff it in a steak and I’m in! 3 paws for the lack of meat
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Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.
3 -4 Large Eggplants sliced into 1/8 - 1/4 inch lengthwise slices
2 Tbs vegetable oil for pan
18 ounces ricotta cheese
1/2 pound grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese + 1/4 - 1/2 cup for topping
1 large jar your favorite sauce
salt & pepper
1 Tbs dried oregano
2 eggs
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°
Take the sliced eggplant and salt both sides to remove excess water and avert a bitter taste, place into a colander and allow to drain for about 15 minutes. Then take the eggplant, rinse off the salt and pat dry. Each eggplant should leave you with a few small slices from the sides that won't be large enough to roll, take these and finely dice them and in a small fry pan with a little olive oil and 1 clove of garlic sauté until tender, place cooked eggplant into a bowl and allow to cool.
Take a large cast iron fry pan and put on medium high heat, brush lightly with oil and place a few of the eggplant slices at a time into the pan and allow to slightly char on both sides, remove to a wire rack to cool and continue to cook all the eggplant slices.
While the eggplant cools in a large bowl place the ricotta, mozzarella, 1/4 cup of Parmesan, the salt and pepper, the oregano, and eggs,and the sautéd diced eggplant and mix thoroughly.
Take the eggplant and place a spoonful of the filling on the thin end and roll gently up. Place in a baking pan that has a little sauce spread on the bottom to keep the eggplant from sticking to the pan. continue until all the slices are done and in the pan. Spoon sauce over the top of the rolls and sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
If you don't use all the filling save it for the next day add a little more cheese and use in baked Ziti or some other cheesy recipe!
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