Jackson Jambalaya

Most of you will agree, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” 

If you know, then you know. Otherwise my opinion is that Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote that even the best of us often fail.

Burns Night, which is annually celebrated on January 25th in Scotland and other places, honors this famed Scottish poet. Hopefully there are some here who appreciate Robert Burns. Most often the celebration of Burn’s life and work involves a dinner with the principal ingredients being the meat course of Haggis, the beverage, Scottish Whiskey and the vegetable dish Tatties and Neeps.

You may not have had an opportunity to enjoy Tatties and Neeps (probably not Haggis either). Haggis is easily beyond my level of culinary skill but hopefully you will see that Tatties and Neeps could be a tasty part of your vegetable rotation during the months when Rutabaga is available at your grocer. Hopefully this recipe will reach you before your grocer runs out until fall and winter root vegetables reappear in the produce section where you shop.

Tatties and Neeps

Ingredients:

1 medium to large rutabaga
7-8 small to medium New (red) potatoes
salted water for cooking both components
3-4 slices Bacon (thick sliced is best)
Unsalted butter
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Directions:

Clean and peel the rutabaga. Rutabaga is a dense rooted vegetable and a sharp knife is required both to peel and to cut it.

The rutabaga should be cut into 1 - 1.5-inch pieces.

The rutabaga is then boiled in salted water, with 2 Tablespoons of butter, until fork tender

I like the fiber content and taste of new (red) potatoes, so when possible, I leave the peelings intact when I cut the potatoes into 1 1/2 – 2 inch pieces for this dish. The potatoes are boiled in salted water until fork tender,.

While the root vegetables are cooking, 3 slices of thick sliced bacon are cut into pieces and fried until crisp then set aside.

After the red potatoes have drained and dried a bit, they are cooked further in the bacon grease until firm and slightly crisped.

The dish is assembled by mixing the rutabaga and potatoes. This mixture is seasoned to taste with salt and black pepper then plated. The plated dish is topped with the cooked bacon pieces.

I don’t know how often Robert Burns dined on Tatties and Neeps, but I bet he believed the dish (seldom cooked in this country) contained some of the best that root vegetables have to offer.

If you like rutabaga, you will probably enjoy this tasty Scottish root vegetable dish.

Thanks for looking at my post.

God Bless You. 

Tatties and Neeps

 Ingredients:

1 medium to large rutabaga
7-8 small to medium New (red) potatoes
salted water for cooking both components
3-4 slices Bacon (thick sliced is best)
Unsalted butter
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste 

Directions:

 Clean and peel the rutabaga. Rutabaga is a dense rooted vegetable and a sharp knife is required both to peel and to cut it.

The rutabaga should be cut into 1 – 1 1/2 inch pieces 

The rutabaga is then boiled in salted water, with 2 Tablespoons of butter, until fork tender

I like the fiber content and taste of new (red) potatoes, so when possible, I leave the peelings intact when I cut the potatoes into 1 1/2 – 2 inch pieces for this dish. The potatoes are boiled until fork tender in salted water.

While the root vegetables are cooking, 3 slices of thick sliced bacon are cut into pieces and fried until crisp then set aside.

After the red potatoes have drained and dried a bit, they are cooked further in the bacon grease until firm and slightly crisped.

The dish is assembled by mixing the rutabaga and potatoes. This mixture is seasoned to taste with salt and black pepper then plated. The plated dish is topped with the cooked bacon pieces.