Mashed Rutabaga

February 13, 2007 at 10:09 am (C (2 stars, okay, edible), Cruciferous rich, Derek's faves, My brain, Quick weeknight recipe, Root vegetables, Starches, Vegetable dishes)

Derek had some rutabaga puree at the Hopleaf, that he loved. I tasted it and thought it was okay–it certainly had a great thick, rich, luxurious texture. I decided to try to make something similar at home, and I thought a good place to start would be the mashed sweet potato recipe from the the Cook’s Illustrated The Best Light Recipe cookbook, since those sweet potatoes also ended up thick and luxurious. Here is that recipe with rutabaga in place of the sweet potato

• 2 pounds rutabaga (2 large or 3 medium), peeled, quartered lenghtwise, and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
• 6 Tbs. organic half-and-half
• ground black pepper

1. Combine the rutabaga, salt, sugar, and water in a 3-quart saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the rutabaga fall apart when poked with a fork, 35 to 45 minutes.
2. Off the heat, mash the rutabaga in the saucepan with a potato masher. Stir in the melted butter and half-and-half with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Season with pepper to taste.

I only had 1.25 pounds of rutabaga, so tried to adjust the recipe accordingly. I used about 1/4 tsp salt, the whole tsp. of sugar (since I figured rutabagas aren’t as sweet as sweet potatoes), about 1/2 cup of water, no butter, and 4 Tbs. half and half. This made about 1.75 cups of mashed rutabaga.

My Notes

After about 30 minutes the rutabaga was pretty soft. I mashed it with a potato masher but the puree was quite wet, not the thick luxurious texture I was going for. I turned the heat up and removed the lid to try to evaporate some of the excess moisture. I guess I should have used less water to begin with. Also, I chopped the rutabaga into large pieces, but in retrospect I think I should have left them even larger, which maybe would have helped with the moisture problem. The final mash was still a bit wet, but Derek loved it. He kept asking for more and more. I had one 1/4 cup serving, and thought it was okay. I liked the rutabaga flavor but not the turnip undercurrent.

Rating: B-
Derek: A