Savory Rutabaga Tart
When I was in grad school in Madison, Wisconsin, I was introduced to Scandinavian culture.
Which means I was introduced to white food: its color, not its ethnic derivation--although. . . .
For a real culture shock, we'd go to a Lutheran church out in the countryside and attend a lutefisk dinner: think of eating at 5:30, singing hymns while you wait in line, and sitting down to fish jelly.
If you don't know lutefisk, let's just say it's an acquired taste: fish preserved in lye, then rinsed and resoaked to remove the poison, all before being cooked until gelatinous. Think of warm fish Jell-O: giggly, very pungent, and very white--undoubtedly that last to match the vegetables on the plate (turnips, potatoes, etc.) You pour melted butter on the whole thing just to give it some color.
Those Scandinavian dinners were one of the first places I tasted the lowly rutabaga, another white thing on the plate. In some local grocery stores, they were called "yellow turnips" or "wax turnips." And on some menus, they were called "Swedes," as in a side dish of "mashed Swedes." (No, thanks. I prefer mashed Danes.)
To be honest, I fell in love with rutabagas--and not just because of the contrast with the lutefisk. I grew to love their delicate but mustardy bite, their creamy richness.
All these years later, Bruce and I still eat plenty of rutabagas, especially in the winter. A few weeks ago, he made this savory rutabaga tart to go alongside a roast at a dinner party. It was just the thing! So tasty, so velvety, a little bit in the nose. We scarfed it down.
I hope you'll enjoy it, too.
lutefisk, rutabaga, rutabaga tart, savory rutabaga tart, side dish, simplicity 
