Picked up our pre-Thanksgiving  feast  stuff. Meijer, the one store that I was  sure would have turnips in stock – was sold out.  The produce guy even checked the stockroom! Always  one with a “Plan B” ready, I bought  a couple  of rutabagas and two russet  potatoes.  I bumped into mashed rutabaga recipes when I searched  for mashed turnip  recipes, so I figured:

Turnips and rutabagas must be cousins, right?

Well, sort of! They are easier  to peel, and taste like “russet potatoes  with attitude.”

The recipe  I’m  using calls  for a mixture of mashed turnips  and russets, with shallots and fresh sage. Only with rutabagas standing  in for the turnips. Behold this  still life:

Honestly,  other  than what  I learned  about  rutabagas  this morning, I associate  rutabagas with two things:

1. Mr. Grigar, my seventh  grade social  studies  teacher, droned on about rutabagas  in a lecture  once
2. An old Bartles & Jaymes  advertisement  specifically  stated  that rutabagas  don’t  pair well with  their wine coolers…or was it kohlrabi? Are those  two things  related? Yeah  I think it was kohlrabi…meh, close enough! 😂