Rutabaga

I don’t buy rutabaga often…wait, let me flip through my mental files….I don’t think I’ve ever bought it. Doesn’t the name imply the over-boiled vegetables that your Scottish grandmother might have forced you to eat as a child? The funny thing that we discovered about rutabaga is that it does in fact smell (and taste) a little like broccoli. And as I’ve found out over the last few days, it makes for the best mashers (add a little brown butter)…which leads to the best Shepherd’s pie. Which, if you ignore the vast amounts of butter and cream required to get you to the finish line, feels a little healthier than your standard white spuds. So for what it’s worth, I recommend giving rutabaga a try. If only to brag to your friends that your kids were eating it the night before.

ME: OK, hold on. Wait. This is the mystery food! What is this called?

LAUREN: Squash?

EMMA: CHEESE!

ME: It looks like cheese, doesn’t it?

LAUREN: Yellow squash?  

ME: Yeah, it looks exactly like yellow squash, but it’snot.

LAUREN: Yellow melon?!

ME: Nope. What do you think it is, Sam?

SAM: Nothing.

ME: It’s not nothing. Do you want to smell it first? Who wants to smell it?

LAUREN: Smells like broccoli.

ME: Like broccoli? Interesting… (sniffing) It does smell like broccoli!

EMMA: It smells like a garbage can.

ME: [laughing] No… it doesn’t. Sam, what do you think? Does it smell like broccoli?

SAM: I don’t want to smell it.

ME: How come?

SAM: I don’t want to smell or taste.

ME: OK. That’s fine.

ME: All right. Who wants to taste it?

EMMA: ME!

ME: OK, you guys dig in there. Do you know what it’s called?

LAUREN: No.

ME: It’s called… rutabaga.

[laughing]

ME: Is that so silly? Sam, you’ve got to try the vegetable with the funny name.

LAUREN: Is it broccoli?

ME: (tasting) It does taste like broccoli! You love broccoli, right Sam?

LAUREN: I don’t like it so much.

EMMA: CARROT, CARROT, CARROT!

ME: Here, these are all your carrots.

EMMA: YAY!

ME: Here. Give it to me. I’m going to put it into this masher… I’m actually making mashed rutabaga. Maybe you guys will like the mashed rutabaga.

SAM: I don’t think so.