Conquering rutabaga fear...

I did it.
I made the first two rutabaga recipes.
And I survived.

First, the one that was good:  Herb Crusted Roasted Rutabaga.  This was a last second switch from my original choice of a Martha Stewart Recipe.  Mostly ... well ... because I need to start using my herbs!

I was a bit giddy during my first snipping session from the raised bed.

I really have developed mad mincing skill to go with my mad mudding skill.

Of course I modified the recipe because I haven't really found recipes for roasting vegetables that have the oven hot enough or have you cook them long enough.

I had a hard time with the proportions and so, here, used a bit too much olive oil.  That is because I made fractions of each recipe.  However, the end result was still tasty.  Definitely different from roasted red potatoes.  I think, when it comes to herb crusted roasted vegetables, I would prefer the red potato.

Now, the BLOODY FANTASTIC RECIPE:  Zesty Roasted Rutabaga and Carrots.

Here they are side by side.   You cannot really tell that there is a Grand Canyon difference of tastiness between them, can you?  But ... oh, my ... there is!

I think the rutabaga made the carrots better and the carrots made the rutabaga better and the whole zesty marinade made the entire dish BLOODY FANTASTIC!  We're talking CULINARY BLISS here!  It took every fiber of my being to put the second serving in a dish and into the freezer.

I have two rutabagas left for my experimentation with this vegetable.  I want to try three recipes:  a mash, a gratin, and a chip.  However, I very, very, very much want to have copious amounts of this recipe again.  The author notes that the julienne strips are good both warm and cold.  I can definitely see this as being as good cold as the Sweet Potato Coins are.  So, even making only fractions of a recipe, I still can only try two of them or forego making a full batch of this BLOODY FANTASTIC CULINARY BLISS before the end of the budget cycle.

Of course, I am actually not sure that I have enough sour cream to last me until the next budget cycle and so was already mentally planning a stealth purchase of sour cream.  Should that need arise, perhaps an extra rutabaga could accidentally fall into my cart.

In case you were wondering, Amos also likes rutabaga.  He, however, had no preference between the two recipes.  Silly puppy dog!