Sweet And Crunchy Rutabaga Salad Recipe

Rutabagas are humble root vegetables belonging to the Brassicaceae, or mustard family. Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe that highlights raw rutabaga in a salad filled with other crunchy ingredients as well as a few sweet ones that round out the flavor. This very colorful dish is nutritious and refreshing, perfect for warmer seasons when you'd rather not roast vegetables and heat up the kitchen. Apples, red cabbage, carrots, and almonds amp up the crunch, while honey adds a sweet touch to the vinaigrette. Greek yogurt makes the dressing slightly creamy, and you can always add more if you'd like to highlight the creaminess. The topping on the, well, salad is honey-roasted chickpeas that bring delightful bursts of texture and flavor to each bite.

Rutabagas are said to be a cross between turnips and wild cabbage and are often considered to resemble a less attractive turnip. They have a mild sweet-bitter flavor that mellows when they're cooked. They are full of fiber, antioxidants, Vitamin C, and minerals like potassium and magnesium, they're low in calories and fat and are a good choice for a nutritious diet. Rutabagas can be enjoyed raw or cooked. Raw rutabaga is crunchy, while cooking it makes it rich and creamy, like a more-flavorful potato or a milder turnip.  This is a lovely recipe to try if you'd like to make rutabaga for the first time or experience its raw and crispy side.

The first step of this recipe is making honey-roasted chickpeas, and you will need olive oil, honey, salt, black pepper, and a can of drained chickpeas. You'll also make a salad dressing with extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Greek yogurt, honey, Dijon, garlic, salt, and black pepper.

The salad calls for a medium rutabaga, up to 1 pound in weight. You'll also use any kind of apples, red cabbage, carrot, a small shallot, parsley, and whole almonds. The recipe doesn't call for roasted almonds, but you can use them if desired. The dark almond skin adds more color to the salad, but you can opt to use slivered or flaked almonds if you prefer. Just keep in mind the fact that they will blend in with the rutabaga matchsticks.

To make the honey-roasted chickpeas, first, preheat the oven to 400 F. 

Place the olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

Pat the chickpeas dry, add them to the bowl with the dressing, and stir well to coat.

Spread the chickpeas in a single layer on a large baking sheet.

Roast the chickpeas for 20-35 minutes until browned and crispy. Stir the chickpeas after 20 minutes so all sides cook evenly.

Meanwhile, make the dressing. Place the oil, vinegar, yogurt, honey, Dijon, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Peel the rutabaga and cut the flesh into matchsticks.

Core and chop the apples.

Place the rutabaga, apple, cabbage, carrot, shallot, parsley, and almonds in a large bowl.

Pour the dressing on the salad and toss well to coat. Taste and adjust for salt, honey, or other seasonings if desired.

Serve the salad topped with crispy honey-roasted chickpeas.

Rutabagas are nutritious cool-weather root vegetables with a purplish skin. They look similar to turnips but they're a little larger, and their inner flesh is a creamy yellowish color rather than bright white. Rutabagas can be eaten raw or cooked. If you're wondering what rutabaga tastes like, it's often compared to an earthy mix of turnip, carrot, cabbage, and potato. The flavor is milder than a turnip, with slightly sweet and bitter notes. Raw rutabaga is firm while cooking it makes it creamy. Like many better-known root vegetables, rutabaga is delicious when roasted, boiled, mashed, made into fries, and added to stews.

Choose medium-sized rutabagas because overly large ones can be tough. Favor those with smooth, unblemished skin, and remove the skin before preparing them: Many grocery store rutabagas are coated with wax to increase their shelf life. Peeling is the hardest part of the prep. You can peel them with a paring knife or a vegetable peeler. If you're having trouble, try this rutabaga peeling hack – microwave it for a few minutes to soften it just enough to make removing the skin easier. You'll need to cut the rutabaga into matchsticks for this recipe. You can do this entirely with a knife and a bit of patience, or use a mandoline slicer to cut thin slices first, cutting the matchsticks with a knife as a second step. Alternatively, you can use a julienne peeler.

This rutabaga salad contains an enjoyable mix of sweet and crunchy ingredients. Sweetness comes from the honey in the roasted chickpeas and the dressing, the apples in the salad, and to a lesser extent, the carrots and rutabaga. The raw rutabaga itself, sliced into matchsticks, is the main crispy player, but the roasted chickpeas, apples, raw cabbage, raw carrot, and whole almonds provide additional crunch. With so many ingredients, it's easy to mix and match or make substitutions if desired.

Maple syrup can be used instead of honey in the roasted chickpea recipe, and maple syrup or agave are alternative sweet liquids for the dressing. Instead of apples, pears or pomegranate arils are other sweet fruit options that, like apples, play two roles in this recipe because they add crunch too. Although they are soft, mandarin orange slices or chopped oranges would work here and add some citrussy tang.

There's no shortage of crunchy ingredients to add to salads. Other crunchy vegetables that can be eaten raw that would go with this salad include celery, fennel, jicama, radishes, water chestnuts, and beets, though keep in mind that beets will change the color of the dish. Additional crispy options you may enjoy are croutons, seeds, and tortilla strips. Of course, if you don't have almonds on hand, other nuts like walnuts, cashews, or hazelnuts would be equally delicious.