Fall Harvest Recipe: Neep, Snadgie or Swede?

One of the fall harvest’s most overlooked and under appreciated vegetables is the tumshie.

I mean the neep.

Umm… the snadgie?

The swede?

A cross between a turnip and a cabbage, this root was carved into a jack-o-lantern for Samhain…

It’s high in vitamin C, beta carotene, potassium and magnesium…

There’s an international curling championship with this vegetable in Ithaca, NY…

You can store them in the fridge for a month, maybe longer…

Guessed yet?

You’re right, it’s the humble yet magnificent rutabaga!

The vegetable with the funniest names in every language is an excellent fall harvest staple. Rutabagas are a super vegetable for eating locally if you live in northern climates (like me), and they are affordable as well. The farmers market is a good source right now. Rutabagas have a delicate flavor and sweetness, and go great in a variety of fall recipes.

Here’s a couple of ideas for rutabaga enjoyment:

• Solo rutabaga– Chop, steam, and mash. Add butter or olive oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
• Rootmash – Cook with potatoes and carrots, mash together with butter and milk (Sweden)
• Tatties and neeps – Boil potatoes and rutabagas, mash separately (Scotland)
• Clapshot – mashed (together) potatoes and rutabaga with chives, butter, onions, and salt and pepper (Scotland)
• Pasty with rutabaga filling
• Soup – recipe below

Fall Harvest Recipe: Root Soup

• 1 diced onion
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, minced
• 2 large potatoes, diced
• 1 bulb of fennel, diced (remove pithy core first)
• 1 rutabaga, peeled and diced
• 3 parsnips, peeled and diced,
• 2 kohlrabi, peeled and diced
• 2 large leeks, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• Paprika

Sauté the onion in olive oil, add garlic as onion carmelizes. In a stock pot, cover all the root vegetables with water and bring to a boil. Add parsley and a teaspoon of salt, and fresh ground pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle or two of paprika.

Root Soup goes great with crusty bread and fills you with warm vegetably goodness on a cold night!

For more fun with rutabagas, see the Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute site (October is National Rutabaga Month), and the Rutabagan has a recipe for the World’s Easiest Recipe for Mashed Rutabagas. The International Rutabaga Curl also sounds like a hoot!

Just remember, rutabagas aren’t for everybody, and the peanut butter and jelly will still be there after dinner.

What’s your favorite use for a rutabaga?

Image: elvissa on Flickr under a Creative Commons License