There were a lot of firsts in this box for me. First time cooking dandelion greens, cipollini onions, and rutabagas. I read a few descriptions of rutabagas that said they were basically like big turnips so I looked for turnip recipes because there seemed to be more of them out there. I found this turnip recipe and just substituted the rutabaga for the other tubers because my rutabaga was pretty big. The original recipe called for broccoli rabe but all I could find was broccolini. I figured it was close enough and I really didn’t feel like going to another store to hunt for it. Sometimes I do that though. Sometimes I will go to five different stores in search of special ingredients because sometimes I am crazy. But not this week.
In spite of the fact that I completely changed the main ingredients in this recipe, it came out great. I found rutabagas and turnips less starchy than other root vegetables like potatoes or parsnips and they have much milder flavor. They absorbed the flavors of the aromatics and were a great compliment to the crunchy broccolini. It was also a pretty hearty dish for being totally vegetarian. I had been looking at pictures of people on the East Coast all bundled up and thought “this would be good cold weather food”. But I live in Los Angeles and it was 73 and sunny that day so what do I know?
Delightful Recipe
Serves 6
Adapted from Martha Stewart
INGREDIENTS
- 1 large rutabaga
- 3 small turnips (if you use parsnips, it’s not the end of the world)
- 2 small bunches of broccolini
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic pressed
- 1 14oz can of whole plum tomatoes
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- Olive Oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add turnips to pot; boil until just tender when pierced with a fork, 3 to 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a colander to drain. Repeat process with rutabagas. Add broccoli rabe to pot, and boil until bright green and crisp-tender, about 1 minute or less. Drain in colander; set aside.
- Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion, garlic, salt, red-pepper flakes, thyme, and reserved turnips, and rutabagas; spread evenly to cover bottom of skillet. Cook, without stirring, until vegetables begin to brown on bottom, about 15 minutes.
- Add chopped canned tomatoes and any juices along with broccolini to skillet. Stir once; cook until vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Serve hot.
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