Tag Archives: rutabagas

Beef, Main Dish, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

St. Patrick’s Day is a toast to the Irish

It’s March 17th as I write this and around my house, it’s time to celebrate the tiny bit of Irish blood that runs in my body, although the house mate is endowed with a great deal more.  We love eating foods that remind us of our trip to Ireland and scones, shepherd’s pie, Irish stew, and tea  are great favorites here. While corned beef and cabbage is more American than Irish, we have a go at it also.

I do have a recipe for you for my version of Corned Beef and Cabbage. While not strictly Irish, it is an Irish American dish that originated in New York City. The Irish immigrants used to make a dish with bacon and potatoes, but found that deli cut corned beef from the Jewish market was less expensive and filled the bill just fine. Likewise, cabbage was less dear than the potatoes, so they substituted. Now it’s a common dish in America.

My version of corned beef is baked rather than boiled, although I’ve also grilled it on a BBQ. As for the vegetable assortment, I’ve substituted root vegetables other than potatoes, all of which are lower in carbohydrates. Enjoy this variation on the American traditional dish.

Baked Corn Beef with Root Vegetables

Corned beef baked in Guinness is the best and so simple to do. The cabbage mixes with a delicious assortment of root vegetables to substitute in for the potatoes and bring an assortment of flavors.

1 Corned Beef brisket, about 3 to 4 pounds
1 bottle of Guinness stout
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Preheat over to 325 degrees.

In an ovenproof pot (I use my cast iron pot), add the olive oil and heat. Add 2 tablespoons of crushed garlic and stir. Put the corned beef in, fatty side down and cook for about 10 minutes to sear the meat, then turn the beef over and sear the top side. Flip it over again, add the Guinness, cover and remove the pot to the middle of the oven. Cook for 2 hours. Check for tenderness. If a fork goes in easily, then flip the corned beef over and leave the lid off, so that the fatty side on the top can now brown in the oven. Add 1 cup of water if the liquid in the pot is getting low. Cook for another 40 to 60 minutes. Start your vegetables on the stove at this time.

St. Patrick’s Root Vegetables

1 cabbage, 5-1/2″ to 6″ head, cut into 8 wedges
2 cups of cubed turnips (about 1×1 cubes)
2 cups of cubed kohlrabi
2 cups of cubed rutabagas
2 cups of cubed golden beets
2 drops of sucralose or 1 packet of Splenda
1 cup of beef broth or bouillon
Salt and pepper to taste
Corned beef spices tied in a cheesecloth (usually come with the corned beef)

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add 2 drops of sucralose, broth, and seasonings, reduce to a medium heat then add beets, rutabagas and kohlrabi to cook. If turnip is very porous and tender when you cut it, add it about 10 minutes later. Otherwise, add at the same time as the other vegetables. Cook vegetables about 40 minutes, fork testing for tenderness. When almost done, add the cabbage wedges and cook another 5 to 8 minutes until the cabbage is just tender.

Makes 8 servings

Nutrition Information for Vegetables per serving:
Calories: 74 Fat: 0.5 g Net Carbs: 10 g Protein: 3.4 g

Tip: Don’t cook your cabbage until you’re ready to serve it. If you expect to have two or three servings left over, then save the cabbage to cook when you reheat the vegetables and broth. This will keep it from getting too soggy.

I’d like to wish everyone a  wonderful and safe St. Patrick’s Day, I would like to point you to some of the delicious recipes on the site to help you celebrate in style.

Start with breakfast and this delicious Corned Beef Benedict.  This is  delicious start to the day or a great brunch item.  You can serve it on a muffin in a minute or serve it without bread at all.

 

You can also try  a Corned Beef Hash for your morning start or have
it the day after if you have left over corned beef.  It uses low carb vegetables in place of the potatoes, so you can enjoy this great dish without guilt.

 

LC Irish Soda Bread -It takes a little work and some special flours, but you can enjoy Irish Soda Bread without running the carbs too high. I use low carb baking mix and nut flours to make a delicious loaf.

Scones are a fantastic breakfast or tea option.  I love them and make them frequently.  In fact, I am planning to publish a little book of scone variations that might amaze you. They’re very flexible. Here’s a basic Scone recipe. 

Like a seafood option? Dublin Lawyer is a traditional Irish preparation of lobster that is quite tasty and reminds me of lobster thermidor.

 

Don’t forget the recent addition to this list of Irish Style Pork Stew that is absolutely delicious. And it cooks fairly quickly.

 

 

For dessert, you could try a nice Irish Apple Cake that is very good when served with whipped cream.  It’s simple to make and just needs a little low carb  baking mix and almond flour to make. Both the coconut flour and Vanilla Whey protein powder in the recipe are optional.

Another dessert option is an Irish Cream Cheesecake. This one is small and delicious.  You can make your own low carb Irish Cream or use a commercial one.  The trick is to let it sit for at least several hours in the refrigerator to let the flavor soak in, then let it come to room temperature for about 20 minutes before you serve.

Here are a few more recipes on the site that might interest you, so check them out if you’d like:
     Irish Style Celery and Kohlrabi
     Irish Horsey Sauce – a horseradish recipe
     O’Kelly’s Slim Irish Cream

 

 

A to Z Challenge 2015, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Rutabaga is a Delicious Root

Back quite a few years ago, PK and I put on a Scandinavian feast for the local SCA group. For the uninitiated, that’s the Society for Creative Anachronisms, a medieval recreation group. We tried to find recipes that would go back to the Middle Ages for the feast and it included many interesting and diverse foods from Scandinavia. One of the dishes we made was Lanttulaatikko, which is a rutabaga baked casserole from Finland. It was the first time I used rutabagas and I was pleasantly surprised by their taste. I have only used them rarely since then and now find myself wondering why? They are fairly low carb, although most of the carbs are sugar, and can be used in much the same way as a potato, so I plan to enjoy them more often in my cooking.

Rutabagas have a bit of a confused history, largely because of a mix of names used for them. They are only called rutabagas in the United States and possibly, Canada. Most of the rest of the world calls them swedes, reflecting back to their abundance in Sweden. The name itself is of Swedish origin, coming from rotabagge, meaning “round root”.

Other names for them are Swedish turnips and Russian turnips. In Ireland, they are the “neeps” in “tatties and neeps”, confusing matters further. I mentioned turnips to a friend who had lived in Ireland and she thought I was referring to a rutabaga. While they are believed to be a hybrid between a turnip and a wild cabbage, they have developed a different look and a different taste from a turnip. The vegetable is larger than a turnip with a purple to tan colored skin and the flesh is an orange color with a nutty, sweet taste when roasted. Turnips are white with a bit of purple on them, although some are all white and the flesh part is white and has a slight peppery taste. I’m sure that clears things right up.

Root Vegetables
Various root vegetables from the top left: turnip, rutabaga, daikon radish and the green one at the bottom is kohlrabi.

Rutabagas are a cold weather crop, like turnips, kohlrabi and others from the turnip family. They are primarily grown in the northern United States, Canada, Europe, and Great Britain.

Uses

Rutabagas can be cooked almost any way you cook a potato —  roasted, sautéed, baked, fried, boiled, mashed and added to soups and stews. They can be shredded and added raw to salads.  They make great French fries.

Fun Facts about the rutabaga

In 2011, the rutabaga entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest vegetable when a gardener in the U.K. grew one that weighed 85.5 pounds! That is a big rutabaga!

People in the British Isles used to carve turnips and their larger cousins, the rutabaga into their equivalent of the pumpkin on Halloween. Called ‘tumshie heads” the children would carry them to ward off evil spirits. They have now been replaced for the most part with pumpkins.

The annual Rutabaga Curling Championship takes place annually at the Ithaca, New York, Farmers’ Market on the last day of the market season. They literally hurl or curl the rutabagas across the wooden floor.

Nutrition Information per 1 cup of cubed rutabaga (170 grams)
Calories: 66 Fat: 0 g Net Carbs: 12 g Protein: 2 g

Recipes

Here’s a couple of recipes from the Skinny Girl site that use rutabagas:

Corned Beef Hash with Eggs
Cove Soup

Featured Recipe for this blog:

Lanttulaatikko- Finnish Rutabaga Bake

I originally found this recipe in the Betty Crocker International Cookbook and have only made a couple of changes to it to convert it to low carb.

2 to 3 medium Rutabagas, peeled and diced (about 6 cups)
2 Tablespoons Butter, divided
1/2 cup Cream
1/4 cup Water
1/2 cup Low Carb Breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
2 Eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons Sugar-Free Pancake Syrup
Cooking spray

Cover rutabaga cubes in water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until fork tender. This is about 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and put in your food processor to puree or use a hand masher. Set aside to cool a little.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.

Mix together two tablespoons of the butter, cream, syrup, salt, nutmeg, breadcrumbs and eggs until well mixed, then add to the mashed rutabagas. Pour into the prepared casserole dish. Dot the rest of the butter over the top.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.

Makes 8 servings

Nutirion Info per serving:
Calories: 146.1 Fat: 11.3g Net Carbs: 6.4 g Protein: 3.2 g

Information for this article came from Food Facts,  Vegetarian in Paradise, Specialty Produce and Wikipedia.

Photo at the top from Wikimedia, used with permission – “Rutabaga, variety nadmorska” by Picasa user Seedambassadors –

All other photos by Rene Averett; copyright Skinny Girl Bistro

Beef, Breakfast & Brunch, Recipes

Not-Quite-Traditional Corned Beef Hash

I had some left over corned beef and even though I have a great corned beef hash recipe, I wanted to try the more traditional version.  But it isn’t quite the traditional version since I used other root vegetables than potatoes for the hash.  While it doesn’t have the starch from potatoes to glue the hash together, it is still a very tasty dish with lots of wonderful flavor from my selected root – turnips and rutabagas, plus the addition of Irish cheddar cheese.

Just a note here, in the US, we call the purplish vegetable with the orange flesh a rutabaga, but I understand that in Ireland, and possibly other European countries, it’s referred to as a turnip.  Where US turnips are the white vegetable with a purplish blush skin.  Parsnips, on the other hand, look like a big white carrot and are higher in carbs.

Corned Beef Hash with Eggs

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 cup Onion, chopped
1 cup Turnips and 1 cup Rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
12 oz. cooked Corned Beef, cubed
1/2 cup Bell Pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Parsley
1/8 teaspoon dried Thyme leaves
Salt to taste (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground Black Pepper, or to taste
1/4 cup Kerry Gold Irish Cheddar, shredded
4 Eggs, fried
1/4 cup Beef Broth
OR 1 teaspoon Better than Bullion Beef in 1/4 cup hot water.

 Peel turnips and rutabagas and cut in half, then into quarters.  .  Put into a pot and add enough water to cover.  Cook for about 20 minutes, then check for fork tender.  The turnips will probably cook faster than the rutabaga, so remove to a colander to cool, add more water to the pot if necessary and cook the rutabagas another 20 minutes, until they are also fork tender.  Drain and cool.  Dice turnips and rutabagas into 1/4 inch cubes.

Heat olive oil in the skillet over medium heat, add the onion and cook until it turns golden brown. Stir in the corned beef and cook a few minutes, stirring now and then. Add beef broth or bullion and seasonings and stir. Add the root vegetables. Continue cooking about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender and meat is hot.

Remove from heat and stir in the cheese. Serve with a fried egg on top, garnished with a few green onion slices, if you like.

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Info per serving
Calories: 383.2 Fat: 25.5 g Net Carbs: 5.8 g Protein: 26.6 g