1. Wash Brussels sprouts and spin or pat dry. Cut in half and place cut-side down on chopping board. Starting opposite the stem end, cut chiffonade-style into thin ribbons. Separate layers with your fingers and put in a bowl until you’ve finished cutting all the sprouts.
2. When the sprouts are cut, heat a large saute pan or electric skillet to medium high and melt two tablespoons butter. Spread butter around the pan and allow to cook until it just starts to brown. (It should be golden, not brown-brown.)
3. Spread shredded Brussels sprouts out over melted butter and let cook for a minute without stirring. When the edges begin to brown, turn with spatula. If the sprouts appear dry, drizzle with olive oil. Keep turning periodically, stirring so the Brussels sprouts don’t burn, but don’t stir-fry ~ they benefit from some extended contact with the pan.
4. When sprouts appear limp and are tender, sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper to taste. Scatter toasted pecans over and stir in. Place sprouts in serving bowl and top with additional toasted pecans to garnish. Serve hot.

Recipe Notes:

• You can add other flavoring agents if you wish (garlic, fresh lemon juice, a splash of your favorite vinegar) but please try it first just like it is. Part of the beauty of this recipe is its simplicity. You’ll be surprised at how much flavor it has.
• You can use both large and small Brussels sprouts in this recipe. Since you’ll be shredding them, size doesn’t matter.
• You can scale this recipe to feed as many as you like. Just increase the amount of sprouts and pecans. You can use a bit more butter, but you won’t need to use much more. The butter serves as a flavoring agent in this recipe; the oil serves as a cooking fat.
• You can replace the oil with melted butter if you wish, but it’s not necessary; you’ll get plenty of flavor from the 2 tablespoons of browned butter.
• If you’re doubling the recipe or using a small pan, cook the sprouts in batches. Crowding the pan will cause the sprouts to steam rather than saute, and you won’t get the flavorful caramelization you would otherwise.

1. In a large saucepot, combine potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer until all vegetables are very tender and potatoes break down, about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepot. When it starts to sizzle, stir in flour to make a roux. Cook the roux for a minute or two, stirring every few seconds so it doesn’t brown. Pour in milk all at once while stirring. Continue to heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk, until milk mixture is thick and bubbly.
3. Using an immersion blender, carefully process the potato-vegetable mixture in the pot until mixture is smooth. Stir in rosemary.
4. Pour thickened milk mixture into potato mixture, stirring until completely incorporated. If mixture is very thick, add additional stock till desired consistency is reached. Taste for seasonings and add salt and pepper to adjust.

Recipe Notes:

• Although milk is called for in this recipe, you can use half-and-half if you want a creamier, richer texture. If you want to slim this down, use skim milk. Pureeing the potatoes give this soup a lot of body, so skim milk works fine.
• If you don’t have an immersion blender, let the potato-broth mixture cool slightly and process in batches in a blender or food processor.
• Add a smoky, salty note to this soup by replacing the butter with bacon drippings. Panfry 8 slices of bacon till crisp. Remove bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Drain and discard all but 3 tablespoons of bacon drippings and add those 3 tablespoons to a saucepan. (If your bacon is very lean and you come up short on the drippings, just add a little butter or olive oil to make up the difference.) Proceed with the recipe from there. Crumble the cooked bacon and sprinkle over the soup immediately before serving.
• The amount of broth you will add depends on how starchy your potatoes are and how thin or thick you like your soup.
• Be sure to taste your soup before adding salt ~ some stock is fairly salty and you may not need to add additional salt.
• You can make this a vegetarian soup by replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock. Make it vegan by using all vegetable stock and no milk and replacing the butter with margarine.

Rutabagas are one of those vegetables people love to hate. Why? Is it the name? The handle “rutabaga” derives from the Swedish word rotabagge ~ rot for “root” and bagge for “bag.” Granted, “rootbag” isn’t the most glamorous name on the menu, but neither is “pork butt” and people go nuts for that.

Is it the flavor? What exactly does a rutabaga taste like? It’s a little bitter, but that bitterness is balanced with a sweet earthiness that’s really very nice. Sort of a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. Which makes sense, considering that the rutabaga resembles a large yellow turnip and is suspected to have a wild cabbage in the proverbial genetic woodpile.

So what, then? Why does everyone and his little cousin hate the poor rutabaga? Well, perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they were originally used in the 1600s to feed animals, and were not generally considered something people ate if they had a choice. But if this is the case, it’s high time we steamrolled right over that stereotype. There are loads of other foods that started out the same way and that we happily fork up meal after meal. Like that morning bowl of oatmeal? So does Mr. Ed.

Let’s try and break out of the rutabaga-hater rut and give this rootbag a chance. If it helps, you can call it a swede. Europeans do, and we all know that Europeans would never eat anything icky.

1. Peel onions and cut in half. Slice thinly. Peel and core apples; slice, then julienne into matchsticks about 1/4 inch thick. Toss apples and onions together to combine.
2. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-low heat. When butter is melted, add onion-and-apple mixture and allow to cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes to 1 hour. About 30 minutes into the cooking time, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the onion mixture and gently stir in.
3. When onions are deep golden brown and caramelized, add 1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar to pan to deglaze it, and stir, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer until vinegar is absorbed, then turn off heat and set aside.
4. While the onion mixture is cooking, wash and peel the rutabaga. Cut into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch dice. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook diced rutabaga until tender ~ about 20 minutes. Cooking time will vary according to the size of your dice, so test at 5-minutes intervals. The rutabaga is done when it is fork-tender. Drain well.
5. Remove onion mixture from pan and melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the same pan. When melted, add rutabaga cubes. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook over medium-low heat until heated through, about 10 minutes.
6. Add onion mixture back to pan and gently stir into rutabaga cubes. Let cook for a minute or two to heat through. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes:

• The act of cutting a rutabaga in half must send millions of people to emergency rooms every year. Or it would, if millions of people were rutabaga fans. You take a slippery waxed globe with the approximate density of a pine knot and try to force a knife through it ~ you just know it’s going to end badly. So please, don’t do it. My favorite way to handle this ~ and the butchering of all geode-resembling vegetables, such as butternut and acorn squash ~ is to firmly anchor the knife horizontally in the rutabaga, then, gripping the handle with one hand, give the tip of the knife a few raps with a rubber mallet, driving the knife all the way through. Try it, you’ll be amazed.
• I’ve found that the easiest way to peel a rutabaga is to quarter it and then use a paring knife to peel away the skin. If you have a better way, I’d love to hear about it!
• Caramelizing the onions is an entirely different process from sauteing them. Note that to caramelize them, you will use medium-low heat and a fairly long cooking time. If you’re pressed for time, you can go ahead and saute the onions, but the flavor and texture will be different. Caramelized onions take on an unbelievable sweetness and a delectably sticky texture that come from changes in the onions that take place during the cooking process. Higher heat and shorter cook times won’t replicate that.
• You can omit the sugar, or use less, in the caramelization step. The onions will still caramelize on their own. I like to use a bit of brown sugar for added flavor and to help the process along, but I don’t add it till midway through the process, to allow the onions’ natural sugars plenty of time to do their thing. If you don’t have brown sugar, white sugar will do the trick too, but brown sugar adds a nice caramel note.
• If you like your veggies on the sweet side, try drizzling the rutabaga cubes with a tablespoon of honey when you add the caramelized onions and apples.
• If you don’t have cider vinegar on hand, try balsamic or rice vinegar. You won’t really taste the vinegar much in the finished dish, but it adds a spark of flavor that beautifully balances out the sweetness of the sugar and the richness of the butter.
• You can use any apple that will hold up well upon cooking/baking. I like Empires, but Granny Smiths, Cortlands, and Jonathans are great in this application too.
• This is a particularly good side dish to pair with roasted pork or chicken.