Rutabaga Recipes: How To Gratin, Mash And Roast This Root Vegetable (PHOTOS)

Over the summer, we asked our CSA baskets WTF was going on inside them. Now, in the dead of winter, we don't have a farm-shares to yell at, but we realized that there were still vegetables in need of interrogation. Today, we want to shine the spotlight on a lesser-loved root vegetable that gets lonely in the cellar -- the rutabaga.

You've definitely seen a rutabaga before, but you might have mistaken it for a turnip. You wouldn't be alone. Rutabagas and turnips look incredibly similar. In fact, the rutabaga is often called a Swede or Swedish turnip and is actually a cross between a white turnip and cabbage. The resulting root vegetable is yellowish in color, starchier and sweeter than a turnip, but more tender than a potato. This means that the rutabaga lends itself to any preparation you would use a potato, turnip or sweet potato for. They are great mashed, pured into soup , roasted or shaved raw into a salad.

We've got a few more months of winter vegetables ahead of us, so why not give the rutabaga a try?

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