For many years now, as I have dawdled in the produce section of the grocer's, I have pondered why manufacturer's have decided to offer us wimpy-wristed chefs pre-cut butternut squash (Good idea, it's one hard squash to cut), pre-cut onions (Okay, they make some people cry and the weepers don't know the secret, which is to keep them cold), and pre-cut apples (Seriously? How hard it sit to bit into an apple?). But no one offered me a pre-cut rutabaga, other wise known as the vegetable you chop with a hatchet.
I've used a rutabaga exactly once since I moved to Old Town, because even at my strongest in my 20s, I barely could cut it. MoM used to make us rutabagas when I was young, and I remember liking it, and I wanted to add a new veg or two into the diet. Where oh where was my pre-cut rutabaga?
Then, Sunday, while once again dawdling in the produce section, it hit me, like a granny purse upside the head: microwave it first briefly to soften it, then chop it, dice it, julienne it, do whatever you want because the microwave should make it soft. Hastily, I snatched an innocent-looking rutabaga and hustled to the check-out line, where the clerk didn't recognize it at all. Hmm, I wonder how long that rutabaga was sitting there? Good thing it's a root veg.
Yes, Gentle Readers, the microwave trick works! Rutabaga zapped, chopped, boiled, mashed, and consumed with gusto. The mashed rutabaga was shy and wouldn't cooperate with the camera, so you will have to trust me that it was delicious in all its sunset orange glory.
I am love with the rutabaga.
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