This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Among the storage vegetables available in winter, there are some that are sometimes a little less popular, such as rutabaga (also called “turnip” in Quebec). Yet it is easy to find, locally sourced and affordable. After making soups, and maybe purees, how can you serve it differently? This recipe is a proposal to serve it as an accompaniment with an aniseed maple topping.
Yield | 4-5 side dishes
Ingredients
¼ cup (60 ml) maple syrup
1 C. (15 ml) cider vinegar
¼ tsp. 1/2 tsp (1 mL) ground Gorria pepper
1 C. teaspoon (5 ml) Quebec pastis
1 large rutabaga, about 700 g, peeled and sliced into 8 half-moons about 2 cm thick
Sunflower oil
Salt
Preparation
1. In a small bowl, combine the maple syrup, cider vinegar, chilli and pastis. To book.
2. In a large skillet, heat a little sunflower oil. Salt both sides of the rutabagas and grill them on both sides.
3. When the half-moons are nicely colored, add a little water to the pan, lower the heat, cover and cook the rutabaga until tender. The duration of this stage varies, in particular according to the pans and the strength of the fire: if there is no more water in the pan, but the rutabaga is not tender enough, add a little and continue cooking (see Tip and variant).
4. When the rutabaga is tender and there is no more water in the pan, remove the lid, add the topping and let it reduce, turning the rutabaga slices several times to coat them well. Increase the heat if necessary. It’s ready when the topping has reduced to a thick syrup that stays on the sides of the rutabaga.
5. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
6. Put the slices on a plate and pour the remaining topping from the bottom of the pan on top.
Tip and variation
• It is best to add a small amount of water at a time, to prevent the rutabaga from being ready, but still having some left in the pan.
• If you don’t have local pastis, another way to add a local anise touch to your topping is to infuse 1 tbsp. (15 ml) dried agastache. The recipe has been tested with pastis and agastache, but if it’s star anise you have in the pantry, that works too. In the case of agastache and star anise, combine the ingredients in your smallest cauldron, heat the topping and let it steep for 10 minutes before passing it through a sieve.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.