Anyone Else Love Rutabagas?
 

I love :love: rutabagas. In fact they are one of my favorite veggies of all time!

I wasn't sure what the calorie count was compared to other root veggies so I was surprised how relatively low cal they are. According to Calorieking.com, here are the calorie counts for 4 oz of each (boiled, no butter or milk added):

Yam 132 calories
Potato 106 calories
Sweet Potato 86 calories
Rutabaga 44 calories

I like rutabagas mashed with salt, pepper and a pat or butter or Smart Balance Spread. Yum!

If you are not familiar with rutabagas (in England they are called Swedes - go figure! :shrug: ) here is how to cook them. Cut off ends and peel. Cut into 1" cubes - careful - they are quite hard to cut so you need a sturdy cutting board and sharp knife. I like to cut them in half first and put them flat side down to get a safe grip.

Cover them with water in a large pan and add a teaspoon of salt. Boil till soft - about 20 minutes. Drain well (or they will be watery) and mash with pepper, salt and a pat of butter or light margarine. I use an imersion blender to mash them so that they aren't too lumpy as it seems to work better than a potato masher. I could just eat a big bowl right now!
:turkey:

Ok, I am going to sound like a major idiot, but what does a rutabaga look like? I have never eaten one--ever, I'm not even sure that I have even seen one. And aren't they the veggie that is confused with the radish? Also, is this the veggie that one can bake almost like faux-french fries? And, it is a vegatable, right?
Wow, I have a lot of rutabaga inspired questions here! :chin:

Rutabagas are in the turnip family, but they don't taste like turnips. You'll find them in the grocery stores here in the States next to the turnips. They are usually about 5" across, round with a pointed end. The flesh in peachy colored, not white like a turnip, and they have a rich creamy taste when mashed with salt, pepper and a little butter. They are a good lower-carb alternative to potatoes.

They are also good diced and added to soups such as beef/vegetable.

Here is a recipe for rutabaga fries from Calorieking (I haven't tried it yet but it looks good).

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/4955/6014qf.jpg

Ingredients:

2 rutabagas (about 34 oz. total)
1 butter flavored cooking spray
1 tsp olive oil
1 dash of Lawry's Seasoned Salt, to taste
Directions:
Place your oven rack at the lowest setting in your oven. Preheat oven and cookie sheet to 450ºF.

Peel the rutabagas and cut into strips the size of steak fries. Toss the fries with the olive oil until coated. Sprinkle lightly with salt and toss again.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly place the fries on it in a single layer; return to the oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender and cooked to your liking. Serve with ketchup, if desired.
:happ3:

i like them also. they taste good with mashed carrots mixed together. glen

I made them once about a year ago and I didn't like them. I thought they were too much work for too little reward (too pungent/spicy). But if I got other ideas about how to cook them I might try them again. Those 'fries' sound like they'd be good.

I like Glen's idea of mashing them with cooked carrots :carrot:

phantastica - Maybe the ones you cooked were too mature. I always buy smaller ones (younger). They are also easier to handle.

Here is a fun website for "The Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institue" http://members.tripod.com/~rutabagas/

I just found out that November is National Rutabaga Month! Here is a link to lots of rutabaga recipes http://southernfood.about.com/od/tur...utabagarecipes

My mom always mashed them with cooked carrots, which tends to make them sweeter. They also look pretty with the 2 colors. :lol:

Hi Pat,

I must try them mashed with carrots :carrot: To me, rutabagas already taste quite sweet, so I would think with carrot they would almost taste like sweet potatoes!

By the way, I have since tried the rutabaga fries recipe I posted and they were great! My hubby liked them a lot and said I should make them again. They were very easy to make and turned out nice and browned but a bit softer than a potato french fry. I only used about a teaspoon of olive oil to toss them in and they are a lot less calories than potatoes.

An interesting fact: rutabagas are in the cabbage family and are cruciferous vegetables - and we know how good they are for us! They are also rich in beta carotene. I hope more people will try them.
Happy Thanksgiving! :thanks2:

I bought a rutabaga yesterday....I'll boil it up tomorrow...thanks, Penny!!
Well - maybe I should thank you after I've tried it...funny looking thing...(the rutabaga - just for the record) :joker:

Hi Gina,

I hope you enjoy your rutabaga!

Happy Thanksgiving!
:thanks1:

It was pretty good - I sliced it, steamed it with some carrots and an apple. Then I smashed it all up and added some ginger and splenda. Delish! :T

Thanks Penny!

In Canada we always called them turnips until about 5 years ago when the changed it to Rutabaga. That is also when we started getting the little white turnips with the purple end on them. I love turnips especially raw, they are crisp and chewy and spicy a great thing to have on the crudite tray.

We always have them at holidays and mash them with butter and a bit of brown sugar. Guess that will change this year.

Hi Sherri,

I like turnips too - especially nowadays that they sell much smaller (younger) turnips and rutabagas. Years ago, they were so huge and hard to cut up - also a lot stronger tasting. I love the Scottish nickname for turnips and rutabags - "neeps" as in the dish "bashed neeps" (mashed turnips or rutabagas). It reminds me of Monty Python's Knights Who Say "Neep" :lol:

Hi, I just joined this site although I used to look at it all the time about 4 years ago. It's good to see it's even more popular now.

I really love rutabagas - or turnips as I call them. In Scotland they are very popular and as you said are called neeps. We pretty much eat them boiled and mashed and often served with haggis! But as they are a free food on Weight Watchers it's good to find other uses for them.

There are a couple of wee things I like to make with them. One is a kind of corned beef (canned) hash. This is a real comfort food but a good way of getting in those veggies. Boil up turnip and carrots and mash, do the same with some potatoes and then mix together. Meanwhile soften a chopped onion in a frying pan and add chopped canned corned beef and fry till it's all soft and broken up mix this with the veggies and then put under a grill to crisp the top. I normally have this with cabbage on the side. It looks a bit like baby food but it tastes great and you can have a huge plateful!

The other tip I have is when you boil the turnip, don't throw away the water. It's great to add to stews or soups as it has a lovely sweet flavour.

I live in Spain now and have yet to see turnips here, so all this talk is making me wish I could get my hands on some right now.

Ok, everyone.
This thread convinced me.

Last night at the grocery store I bought a rutabega. *nods*

I want to use up my potatoes first, but I have grand things in mind for mashed rutabega and carrot medly.

louloumel - :welcome2: welcome back to 3FC! Your recipe for corned beef hash with "neeps" sounds great - I can almost taste it :T. Good idea to keep the cooking water - save wasting all those good nutrients! You'll have to get the Spaniards eating rutabagas, although it's probably too warm to grow them there :(

PhysDom - I hope you enjoy your rutabaga!

If you are looking for other potato alternatives - check out my thread on mashed Celeriac (it's delicious).
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...79#post1025779

Hi Penny, Thanks for the welcome! It's funny you should mention growing them as I have just been looking for seeds - no luck so far. The only time I can get rutabaga is if I go to Gibraltar as there is a britishsupermarket there and they sell them - so I buy a couple, boil them up, mash them a bit and freeze them. It works ok although quite a lot of liquid comes out. i don't know if there is better way to do it or not?

P.S. if you want more details on the hash, just let me know.

Louise

Hi Louise,

Wow - you have to go all the way to Gibraltar to get rutabagas! It might be worth trying to grow them even if it's a bit too hot there. I've never tried freezing rutabagas. They have a long shelf life - I've kept them in my vegetable drawer in the fridge for a couple of months.

Do you put any butter in the rutabaga hash recipe? I was thinking you could also make the mixture into patties and pan fry them in a little butter (unless the mixture is too soft).

I think I will try some next time I hit the supermarket. We dont have them close to me so it will be next time I drive to the city. They sound pretty good, worth a try at least.

They are good steamed with with parsnips, too!! Whodathunk I'd be extolling the virtues of vegetables? :carrot:

GonnaLooseitagain - Hope you enjoy your rutabagas when you find some!

Gina - I'm making some roasted parsnips for lunch today which we'll have with some apricot/rosemary chicken thighs - mmmm

apricot rosemary chicken thighs? *drools*

Yes, they turned out great and I even have left overs for tomorrow! In case you'd like to try it, here is the recipe:

Apricot Garlic Rosemary Chicken

8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
5 cloves garlic (pressed or chopped very fine)
1 tsp. dried crushed rosemary (I like the McCormicks one with garlic - it has a built-in grinder in the lid!)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup apricot all fruit preserves
2 tsp. Dijon mustard

In a large bowl marinate thighs in the garlic, rosemary, oil, salt & pepper for 2 hours, stirring meat a few times. Bake on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil at 400 deg.F for 20 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix preserves, mustard & lemon juice. Remove chicken from oven & smoosh about 1 tbsp. of preserves mixture on each thigh (chicken thigh, that is :lol: ) Bake for additional 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink in middle. Put under broiler for a couple of minutes to get it nice and brown on top. Pour any juices in the pan over the chicken. May be served hot or cold (makes a great potluck dish).

Calories: 314 for two thighs (calories would be a little bit less if you used breast meat and omitted the olive oil). Enjoy!

Ok, I finally had my rutabega.
I tried to use it in a *******ized version of shepherd's pie (I used ground chicken in the bottom) as a replacement for the 'potato' topping.
I peeled it, cut it into small pieces, and then boiled it with carrots.

The problem? It didn't 'mash' like potatoes do! It just went into small chunks and wouldn't blend smooth at all. I was dissapointed with the comparison to potatoes...

...but not to the taste. It was wonderfully delicious. I liked the resulting dish a lot and I plan to buy more rutabaga! (Even if I nearly cut off fingers and toes trying to cut it!) What a nice addition to my new food pantry.

I agree that rutabaga doesn't have the same texture as potato. I found that if I use a regular masher it's quite lumpy, however I now use my stick blender (sometimes called an imersion blender) and it gets VERY smooth, just like mashed potatoes. I don't add milk like I do for potatoes or it gets too runny. A little butter, salt & pepper is all it needs.

I really enjoy having celeriac instead of potatoes on shepherd's pie. It's a lot more like the consistency of potatoes, but with a mild celery flavor.

I'm glad you liked the taste. I've converted several of my American friends to eating rutabagas! I like potatoes, but it's nice to have other alternatives that are also lower in calories. If you get the 'baby' rutabagas, they're a lot easier to peel & chop (milder too). They are also excellent cubed and added to soup.

Wow, I've gotten some great ideas from this thread! I've always loved mashed turnips (as I've always called them) but I can't wait to try roasting them! I love the idea of using the water they're boiled in for soup. And that apricot chicken dish has me drooling! I've added the ingredients to my shopping list!

Celeriac... seen it, never knew what the heck to do with it. Gonna give that a try too! I'm so glad I stumbled upon this thread! Thank you!

I finally got one, our little grocery store had them a couple weeks ago, so I bought 1. I have not made it YET, I think I may try to make it today!

I grew up on swede, I don't like it mashed, especially with carrot, too many years working in old folks homes where its a staple dish! I do like it roasted in chunks with other vegetables.

I love celeriac, it's one of my favourites! Mashed with potato it's great, if you are trying to reduce your carbs. I like it raw and grated in salads.

katrinabgood I hope you enjoy the roasted rutabagas. By coincidence we had the apricot chicken for lunch today and it was very tasty! Good luck with the celeriac.

GonnaLooseitagain Let me know what you think of the rutabaga.

kykaree I like the swede (rutabaga) roasted for a change too. I really like the 'rutabaga oven fries'. I'm going to have some celeriac raw in a salad soon - thanks for reminding me!

:wave: louise can you post the corned beef hash reciepe please. in canada rudabega are large and turnips are small. :) glen

Glen - I don't think Louise saw your post, so I'm taking the liberty of posting her recipe for corned beef hash. Hope this helps. :)

I think I'll give it a try too - it sounds delicious!