Monday, June 16, 2008

Kålrabistappe

I need your help to find the English name for this side dish. It is old, traditional doos here, often to go with salt meat, as we had some days ago. It is made of swede, boiled till it is soft, then mashed with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simple and very tasty.
I like to cook traditional, and am afraid that the young people of today totally forget, or never learn how to make the food which was essential for previous generations.
Our oldest son bought his own flat a couple of months ago, and he is already realising that pizza and pasta every day can be quite boring. Now he calls me from time to time to get ideas for simple and tasty meals to cook.
I am playing with the idea of making a cookbook for my two sons. I probably have all the recipes I need alreday here at The Blue Café.

Tomorrow I will start preparing food for my Big Party.

12 comments:

flacius1551 said...

Kohlrabi relish? (in the US we call it kohlrabi)

Britt-Arnhild said...

Thanks flacius. When I searched my dictionary the only word I found was swede. Kohlrabi relish sounds much better.

flacius1551 said...

I picked kohlrabi based on the name you mention, but in my dictionary looking up "swede" it gives the American name for Swede as "rutabaga," which is something slightly different. Rutabaga is more like a turnip; it is round and yellow (with maybe a purple skin)--it grows underground and has a single leaf group on top. Kohlrabi is green or sometimes purple but with weird leaves that extend from every part of the body and grows above ground. The flesh of a rutabaga is more yellow, whereas the flesh of a kohlrabi is more white to greenish. So I am not sure whether you have a kohlrabi or a rutabaga there. ("Swede" is only used in England).

Anonymous said...

Regarding the cook book idea for your son. I have been gathering my favourite recipes, especially tradional ones from my grandmothers and aunts for my children. I also add a comment or a brief history about the recipe. Hopefully the recipe book will not only be practical but offer a bit of family food history.
I enjoy your blogs very much, good luck with the party.

Debbie in CA : ) said...

Hello, I have just found your delightful blogs. I fell in love with Norway in 1979 on a summer's exchange program with a family that "adopted" me. We are still family and I visit when I can and they me. I believe your dish is rutabega as I have enjoyed it many times in Norway and at home in CA. I will visit you often to enjoy your view on the world. Have fun at you special party! : )

Anonymous said...

I don't know the name but it looks good. ;-)

Paz

Kentishmaid said...

If this dish is made from swede- which it looks like, in Scotland it is called Mashed Neeps. Traditionally eaten with Haggis on 25th January which is Burn's Night also turnips can be used and are called the same thing.
I love it and serve it all through the winter months when root vegetables are at their best.
I read all your blogs, and visit often- I too am about to reach 50! Is this the start of the rest of our lives?

Sonja Sommers-Milbourn said...

Just how many of us ARE nearing the '50 year mark'???? I'll be celebrating mine on July 14th (French Bastille Day)!

I thought of rutabega, as well, Britt, when I saw your dish. Boiled until soft and then mashed with a dollop of butter and dash of pepper....Delish!

Journalism said...

NO,Kålrabi stappe is not kohlrabi! It is rutabaga! So the correct name for this would be mashed rutabaga!

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PeterJ said...

It is a Swede Mash.

Have you tried the Welsh version - equal amounts of potato and swede boiled together until soft and mashed with butter and plenty of butter. The amounts of potato and swede can be varied but less than a third swede just looks wrong. Carrot can also be mashed in for a change [ but imagine the effect of stirring in some long shreds of heritage carrot - the blues, rich purples, golds and reds forming strings in the orange mash ].

mrsbeenk said...

I emailed this info to my parents in 2013 and found the old message. I was googling to find the original post which evidently no longer exists) and ended up here. This is the information I found previously - that Kohlrabi and Swede are both referred to as rutabagas in the U.S. there is another root vegetable called Kohlrabi but it is different from a rutabaga. My interest in the article I will post is that my mom's family eats a dish for Christmas that we've come to call "Tillie Toots" (because they made a hired hand name Tille toot) which is rutabagas, potatoes and polsa wrapped in lefse.

Norwegians cook rutabagas with potatoes, sometimes with the addition of carrots ("for the color"), and mash them with butter and either stock, milk or cream to create a puree called kålrabistappe. Onion is occasionally added. In Norway, kålrabistappe is an obligatory accompaniment to many festive dishes."

Most people use "kohlrabi" and "Kålerabi" interchangeably. They are both root vegetables, but the first is a German term for another turnip variety, the second is a Scandinavian term referring more specifically to a rutabaga.