Rutabaga-Sweet Potato Swirl

Rutabagas are the Big Daddy of the turnip family. Starchy with an earthy, slightly sweet flavor, they are easy to grow and high yielding. They gained popularity in the 19th century, when they were valuable as animal food. Unlike many of the other items that could be used as fodder, rutabagas also tasted good to humans and eventually made their way to our tables. Sometimes known as swedes or Swedish turnips, they are likely a cross between turnips and wild cabbage and may have originated in Scandinavia or Russia in the Middle Ages.

I dote on rutabagas because I only had them once a year as a child, during the holidays. My mother would create a densely flavored puree of rutabaga, fragrant with the sweet smoke of bacon. She would mute some of the vegetable’s strong flavor with the addition of a white potato and a pinch of sugar.

That dish was bliss. I never expected to encounter this taste of a memory again. Then decades later, at the table of my adopted family in New Orleans, I peeked into a casserole dish and was astonished to see the familiar buff-colored puree of my youth. I was doubly surprised because it was swirled with a contrasting orange sweet potato puree in a yin and yang of deliciousness. The flavors formed an elegant combination where the savory taste of the rutabaga played nicely off the honeyed sweet potato.

The fortuitous serving of the two reminded me of my love of rutabagas, and now I have them frequently during the cooler months rather than waiting for the yuletide season. They’re lovely paired with sweet potatoes, but frankly I enjoy rutabagas too much to waste stomach space on other veggies at the same time. Follow the recipe below for a showy side dish to brighten up your sideboard, or skip the sweet potatoes and enjoy this underappreciated vegetable in its own right.