Gluten-free · Soy-free

 

Can you tell I’ve been really into my sous vide machine recently? When I saw rutabaga in the store the other day I thought “I have to sous vide it!”. If you’ve never cooked with rutabaga before, it’s a root vegetable kind of like a hybrid between a cabbage and a turnip. It’s sweet and nutrient-packed and tastes like a very flavorful Yukon Gold potato.

Turns out that sous vide rutabaga cooks really nicely! The texture is soft with a little bit of resistance, and the flavor is sweet and rich.

The advantage of cooking it sous vide is that it allows you to control the temperature, unlike cooking it in the oven, steamer, or pan. The rutabaga is cooked evenly and it also allows you to catch all the flavors going on inside the sous vide bag, concentrating it into a small amount of liquid. That liquid is gold!

Can you still make this recipe if you don’t have a sous vide machine? Absolutely. Just scroll down to the “Substitutions” section to see how to cook your rutabaga.

What’s the best temperature to cook rutabaga sous vide?

I’ve found that 90ºF/115ºC for 4 hours is perfect for rutabaga, (cutting it in half first). It comes out nice and soft but still maintains its shape.

Substitutions

• If you don’t have a circulator, wrap the rutabaga in aluminum foil, place on a sheet tray, and bake at 400ºF for 2 hours. Check it with a cake tester or a toothpick; it should go right through but still have its shape.

• Use white wine vinegar or apple cider if you don’t have brown rice vinegar.

• If you prefer seeds rather than nuts, substitute the almonds for sunflower seeds.

Equipment

For this sous vide rutabaga, you’re going to need:

• Circulator

• Sous vide vacuum-seal machine + food-grade vacuum bags

• 1 large pot

• 1 small pot

• 2 medium bowls

• 1 small bowl

• Fine sieve

• High-speed blender

Uses

You can serve this rutabaga as a side dish or an appetizer. You can also use the sauce as a dressing, just add olive oil, lemon juice, and a splash of water to thin it out.

 

  

Serves 4

Ingredients

30ml vegetable broth

6g sea salt

20ml brown rice vinegar

600g (2 large) rutabagas, sliced in half lengthwise

120ml extra-virgin olive oil

6 sprigs fresh thyme 

CHIPOTLE SAUCE

154g almonds, soaked overnight and peeled

10g dried chile ancho, toasted 

7g dried chile chipotle, toasted

12g (2 cloves) garlic

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Sea salt, to taste

Toppings

50 fresh cilantro leaves, chiffonade*

60g baby kale leaves, chiffonade*

Method

1. Place your circulator in a large water bath and set to 90ºF/115ºC. Combine the vegetable broth, salt, vinegar, and olive oil in a bowl and whisk until the salt has dissolved. Place the rutabaga, thyme, and the mix into a large food-grade vacuum bag and seal with a vacuum sealing machine. Cook at 90ºF/115ºC for 4 hours.

   chipotle sauce

2. Meanwhile, fill a small pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add dried chiles and garlic and simmer for 10 minutes (Note: if you forgot to soak the almonds in advance, add them in too so that they soften). Drain and set aside.

3. Place all the ingredients for the sauce, including the chiles and garlic that you just soaked, in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth, making sure to scrape down the walls of the blender when necessary. The sauce should be smooth and a little thick. Pass through a chinois or fine sieve into another container and adjust seasoning with salt and lemon juice to taste.

   Plating

1. Mix the cilantro and kale in a small bowl.

2. Once the rutabaga is cooked, open up the bag with some scissors and save the liquid. Season the liquid with salt and lemon juice if necessary and set aside.

3. Place the rutabaga cut side down on a paper towel to soak up some of the excess liquid before transferring, cut side down, onto your serving plates. Spoon a big dollop of chipotle sauce over each rutabaga half, lift the plate, and tap the bottom with your hand so that the sauce covers the whole rutabaga. Repeat for all the halves and top each one with a handful of kale and cilantro mix and some celery leaves. Finish off with a few drizzles of the rutabaga cooking liquid.

*Chiffonade is a slicing technique in which leafy green vegetables are sliced into very thin strips.