Glazed Leg of Lamb with Roasted Root Vegetables

Root vegetables are important ingredients in Scandinavian cuisine. In this dish the lamb meat is accompanied by a plethora of root vegetables – scented with mustard, rosemary and garlic—New Scandinavian Cooking

So I went to ´The Inn´last night with my family.  I had heard it was a new Scandinavian restaurant in Minneapolis and everything about it last night proved this true.  Oddly enough, the website for the restaurant does not say anything specifically about a Scandinavian influence.  Either way, it was fantastic.  The atmosphere was great-it felt cozy, casual and elegant at the same time.  Our server was awesome and the food and drinks were phenomenal.

We had a few appetizers including a cured meat plate, potato dumplings, and smoked trout.  I drank a `Scandinavian´which consisted of Aquevit, orange, and bitters (the bar is big into mixology)-it was delicious.  I ordered a pork hanger steak accompanied by a warm apple mostard (mustard soaked warm apples) and I ordered a side of turnip purée.  The turnip purée was absolutely amazing.

I don´t pay enough attention to certain root vegetables.  I eat a lot of gulrotter (carrots), løk (onions), hvitløk (garlic), and poteter (potatoes), but other root vegetables, such as kålrabi (rutabaga), turnips, and parsnips are not frequently in my shopping cart or on my order at a restaurant.  It seems like only more upscale restaurants offer these sorts of root vegetables and I wonder why?  They are simple to prepare and don´t seem super pricy either.

My pork steak last night was prepared at the perfect temperature and tasted great, but the turnip purée was seriously to die for.  It was mildly sweet, creamy, and salted to perfection.  Root vegetables like turnips and kålrabi are typically a bit sweet and pretty dense.  I´m really terrible at describing how food tastes, so forgive me, but if you don´t eat these root vegetables often, I highly suggest that you try them again.  They are sooo good!

Kålrabi is a very common food in Norway.  It grows in cooler climates and can be stored for up to 6 months.  It is low in sodium and high in calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin E, beta-carotene, almost all vitamins B.  So, it is very good for you, especially if you live in a cooler climate during the winter when you need all of those vitamins that you aren´t getting from the sun.

You can eat kålrabi prepared in many different ways, similar to poteter.  Try them raw, mashed, fried, in soup or salad, steamed, boiled, roasted, or baked, or even in cake!  Eat root vegetables:)

Check out the menu at “The Inn”