Simple Measure

The mail isn’t usually anything to get all excited about. Bills, bills, and credit card offers for months at a time, interrupted only by the occasional greeting card.

But yesterday there was a big, fat unexpected package waiting for me on the table when I dragged my rain-soaked and exhausted self home from work. I eagerly ripped it open and was jump-up-and-down delighted to find a brand new cookbook from my CSA farm. It was their way of saying “thanks” for being a 2007 shareholder.

I can’t wait to show it to you, Meg. Flipping through recipe after recipe (all organized by season and vegetable!) I came across a variation of a knock-out farm recipe Jared and I had tried and loved late in the season. With more rain in the forecast, I knew this would the perfect comfort food to come home to tonight.

Ok Meg, there’s no denying we used to be BIG mashed potato fans. We’d eat it until we were rolling around the floor with stomach aches. You’d think it would be hard to improve on such a good ol’ twin favorite. But toss a rutabaga and a carrot into the mix and POOF! You have a pretty little side dish worthy of your holiday table.

To me, rutabagas are a little less showy than their winter turnip cousins. They’re a root vegetable all right, but they’re not bragging about it. Their flavor seems slightly more mild, and here they complement rather than overpower the potatoes.

And the carrot? You wouldn’t know it was in there to taste it, but it adds a beautiful golden color. We don’t eat potatoes often, and it really brightened up this rainy Chicago night.

The random nature of our pantry turned this into a vegan side dish, but I’m sure if you use unsalted butter and milk it would be just as rich, creamy and bowl-scrapingly good. You can make it a little lighter by substituting the rutabaga and potato cooking water for the milk or soymilk.

The recipe boldly suggests it serves 4, but Jared and I had NO problem polishing off the entire pot with a quick mix of seitan, spinach and red peppers on the side.

Mashed Rutabaga and Potato

Adapted from Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt On Vegetables
Serves 4

1 pound rutabagas

1/2 pound Yukon Gold potatoes (Yukons add an extra buttery taste)

1 medium carrot, chopped

1/4 cup plain soymilk

2 3/4 Tbs Earth Balance soy margarine (or your favorite buttery spread)

3/4 tsp salt plus two pinches

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg with extra for garnish

freshly ground black pepper

1. Boil a large pot of water and throw in two pinches of salt. Add the rutabaga and cook for 10 minutes or so. Add the potato and carrot and cook until all vegetables are tender, about 20 more minutes. Drain.

2. Heat soymilk in a saucepan, being careful not to boil.

3. At this point Jared threw the vegetable mix and Earth Balance into the food processor, because it wasn’t mashing very well with just a fork. Maybe having an actual potato masher would have helped. Whether you’re mashing by hand or with a processor, add a little of the warm milk as you mash until you hit your desired consistency. Stir in the salt, nutmeg and pepper. Sprinkle with a little extra nutmeg and serve hot.