Janet Chang
I recently discovered swedes at my local green grocer. I believe they are called rutabagas in America, but I don’t recall ever seeing it there. They seem to be more commonly available in New Zealand and I can’t believe it took me this long to discover this vegetable. It looks like a cross between a beetroot and turnip with a slightly yellow creamy color with the slightest hint of a deep beetroot like color on the outside. Compared to a potato, a swede is much lower in calories and carbohydrates making it my new favourite root vegetable. I’m generally not a huge fan of mashed potatoes but I loved the taste of this recipe. It’s super rich, just slightly sweet with the perfect amount of buttery goodness.
Creamy Mashed Swede
450 grams swede
3 tbs cream
2 tbs butter
1/2 tsp salt
Peel and chop the swede into small cubes. Boil the cubed swede in water until tender. Drain. In a food processor, add in the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Serve warm. Makes 4 very rich servings.
Until you have tasted swedes grown in Southland and picked after a few frosts you are missing a real treat.Those avaliable in supermarkets are a mere shadow of the real thing.Cooked with a little salt and sugar then mashed with butter and plenty of black pepper,just wonderfull.
I wonder why, if you are bothered enough to worry about the tiny difference in calories between potato and swede, you then add 3tbs cream and 2 tbs butter to this recipe! Crazy
Cream has no carbs!
Swede is indeed an underrated vegetable. I like it peeled, cut into small cubes, boiled until tender and then tossed in butter, grated parmesan and a little of the cooking water. Season and serve.
I’m not Scottish but I love the recipe called Clapshot that originated in the Orkney Islands. It’s basically mashed potato and swede cooked together then mashed with salt, pepper, chives or onions and a bit of cream or butter or even dripping.
In the past, when I’ve mentioned eating swede, the response from Kiwis has been ‘What?? That’s cattle food!” If only they knew what they were missing. Swede sweetened by a frost is superb!