[I hope you enjoyed our first and last Dostoevsky reference] Whenever I see those big piles of rutabagas at the market, I always think to myself, “who the heck is eating all these root vegetables?” I understand that there’ve been times when we literally had no choice – it was either gnaw on a parsnip or perish, but nowadays with so many other delicious choices, why would anyone eat root vegetables on purpose? Has anyone ever stumbled out of a smoky dorm room late at night, in search of a big plate of steamed turnips? Probably not. So, while you’ll never catch me boiling up a batch of these fugly roots to enjoy their intoxicating sulphurous savoriness, I have been known to tolerate them in the occasional gratin.
Of course, I cheated and added some potatoes to mellow things out, but still, all kidding aside, this is a very delicious and enjoyable way to eat them, and would make a fantastic side dish for the holidays. And yes, I do know that potatoes are tubers and not roots, so save your emails. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 turnip
1 rutabaga
1 small celery root
2 yukon gold potatotes
1 parsnip
* root vegetable sizes and shapes vary, but bottom line, you’ll need enough to fill a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish up 3/4 of the way
salt to taste (be sure to generously salt the boiling water!)
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup cream
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cayenne
1 tbsp fresh picked thyme leaves
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
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