This is a bit of an unusual recipe! I personally have never used swede in cooking myself so this was definitely a first for me. I received this ingredient in a Too Good To Go box from Aldi. To be very honest, I didn't actually know what it was (and neither did my housemates), many calls to different mothers were made to work it out. We landed on the fact that I would have to use it as a substitute for potatoes as apparently sweet potato and swede pair nicely together. With what I had in my cupboard we decided salt and pepper swede would be the best thing to try out.
I started by scrubbing my swede then chopping off all the thick layer of skin. Once that was done i chopped the swede into parallel slices with approx. 1.5cm between each one. The reasoning for this was I didn't want to make the swede too thick to the point it would crisp on the outside but remain raw on the inside in the oven. I then chopped the swede into chip like sticks and placed a pan of water ready to boil.
The water was boiling and the swede was ready to go in, so I took to the second part! For this I grabbed 3 ingredients - red onion, chillies and garlic. To add, I found the red onion in the 3 for 2 vegetables section in Tesco, which was very helpful. I roughly diced the red onions, chillies and garlic and waited for my swede to boil. I emphasise on the rough dicing as from what you will see in the pictures, it is not perfection!
I twiddled my thumbs and waited for the swede to be done part boiling. When it was ready, which I did just decide myself from looking at it, I drained and placed it all on a baking tray. I attempted to keep the swede boiling for around 10-12 minutes to make sure it softened enough but didn't become mushy. The seasonings I used included cajun and smoked paprika - I always have these in my cupboard. It is typically good to have a base of different spices and seasons to give your food some flavour, you'll find it is an investment due to the numerous times you use them.
The most difficult part of this process was trying to space out all the chips on a baking tray. I was previously warned that if they smothered each other they may go a bit mushy and soggy, which wouldn't have tasted the best. When everything was nicely seasoned and (slightly) separated on the tray, I slid it in the oven. I am honestly unsure how long it was in that oven for as it takes so long - my oven lives in a uni house, other students can relate. I kept checking on it regularly and kept the oven on 200 degrees consistently. Whilst I was waiting I got my frying pan out and began to sizzle up my other ingredients. After I would say 30 minutes, I pulled them out and added them straight to the frying pan to mix it all up.
The swede looked like it had a lovely crisp to it and I was genuinely quite excited to give it a taste.
I tried my best to take a few snap shots during the whole process to share my every move. However, do not judge this dish - and the power of swede itself- by these pictures.
I was actually nervous during this whole thing because I entirely relied on the Too Good To Go box to provide my meal for the evening. I intended to demonstrate how you may get something completely unusual and random which you have never tried before and turn it into something nice just using the bits in your cupboard.
To my surprise the swede was actually amazing. We all gathered round the table like it was an alien and took a mouse bit, but everyone seemed to enjoy! I thoroughly enjoyed it and did end up polishing off the plate. The best way I could describe it in my experience is a bridge between a sweet potato, a real potato, and earth itself. It had a rooty texture to it whilst also having the outer crisp of a chip. It really just felt as though I was eating a healthier version of salt and pepper chips!
In the future I would not shy away from buying a swede and I am excited to find out more things I could make with this ingredient!
Maia x
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