Miraculous.
And the best part, it's as easy as eating way to many slices of pie! Roasted beets, rutabaga and sweet potato. A little salt…A food processor…no joke, so easy and it tastes so freaking good. A real show stopper. Everyone will whip out their phones to snap a pic.
Let me break this down for you.
Rutabaga. Sweet Potato. Beet. That's what I was working with. I chose these roots for color as well as for taste. Separately the flavors are amazing. Together they are out of this world. If you wanted you could omit any of these and sub in, lets say, pureed cauliflower, or maybe parsnips. I would stay away from potato, it's a little to starchy, but maybe acorn or butternut squash. Oh man, now I want to make celeriac, carrot and acorn squash marble. Pureed vegetables are trouble for me. I can't stop eating when they are around. I know, but don't judge, instead lets prepare.
Peel the rutabaga..To be honest, I don't peel, but this one that I got at the grocery store had a layer of wax on it…so yeah, I decided to peel that. You can also peel the beet if you want, but again, I don't do that.
I diced up the baga and the beet, and tossed into separate pans to roast. I gave each pan a tiny splash of oil and a sprinkle of salt. The sweet potato, well that just got tossed into the oven as it was. I wouldn't mix the beet with the rutabaga, the juice will turn it pink. Here the thing, If you want to boil or steam you veggies, go right ahead. I roast because I like the roasted flavor and its easier for me to throw things into the oven on a cast iron pan then to boil onto of my tiny stove. Bonus, I don't wash my cast iron so less dishes! Just make sure with any method, your vegetables are cooked throughout and that they are tasty.
So you got a pile of roasted rutabaga, a pile of roasted beets and a baked sweet potato.
Remove the flesh from the skin of the sweet potato.. then eat it. Ok you don't have to eat it but it is SOOOOOOO good. At least try it.
I used my handy emulsion blender to puree everything but a food mill or a food processor is equally as good. Puree each root separately . Start with the rutabaga. Go to the sweet potato, then end with the beet. That way you don't have to clean in between purees. Add little amounts of water when pureeing if it needs a little help to loosen up. Blend until smooth.
Three beautiful purees. My sister and I stood in the kitchen prior to preparing the plate and stuck our fingers in the puree. That right, and we licked then and went back in for seconds. In my family, as long as there is not disease being transmitted, a little bit of shared germs is ok. So now that you have tasted and tried not to eat to much of the purees, let's get crazy….
I just took a spoon and threw piles in that bowl. I could have done more of a checkerboard pattern to make it a more uniform marble, but I just went for it. Do it any way you want. Don't be afraid, you can't screw this up!
I took a fork and kind of rain it throw the top to start the effect. I then took a cake knife and just leaved it out. That's what I did and then I was done. After all the oohing and aching, I stuck the dish into the oven for another 10 minutes just to keep hot, but you can serve this at room temp as well.
Now tell me that isn't a thing of beauty. I fell in love. I want to puree and marble everything. This could be my thing.
Empty bowl…Ok, I'll admit I ate half of it..I couldn't help it. Next time I will have to make a bigger batch.
P.S. You could totally make this dish today and serve it tomorrow. Just plastic wrap the top and refrigerate. When your getting ready for you meal, stick in oven for 20 minutes or until it's the temperature you want it.
Happy Thanksgiving and Yeah!
Marbled Roots
Choose at least two, preferable three contrasting root vegetables. I;ll give you the version in the pictures.
- 1 large beet
- 1 medium rutabaga
- 1 large sweet potato
- olive oil
- salt
Preheat oven to 425
Dice rutabaga and beet. Toss with splash of oil and sprinkle of salt. Place on spereate baking sheets and move to oven. Place whole sweet potato in oven Cook until veggies are fork tender, usually about 40 minutes.
Remove veggies and place into separate containers and puree each veggie, starting with the lightest colored one. Add small amounts of water to help loosen if needed.
In a shallow casserole dish or pie plate, pile small amount of puree in dish, alternating the colors. With a knife, swirl the veggies around…Dont go to crazy or it will end up blended. You could stop here, I know, it looks amazing, but I finish it all off by taking a cake knife and smooth out the top.
Pop the roots back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes just to completely warm and meld the flavors together.
How cool are you now? People will be talking about you marbled roots for weeks.. maybe even until next thanksgiving.
Enjoy!