The swede’s ability to sponge up liquid is shown to good effect when
it is baked with butter and vegetable stock. When it is teamed up with potato
and seasoned with garlic and a spot of mustard, it is as near to a main course
as I feel you can safely get with this particular root.
Enough for 4
potatoes – 500g
swede – 500g
garlic – 4 cloves
butter – 85g
Dijon mustard – 2 heaped teaspoons
thyme leaves – a level teaspoon
vegetable stock – 55ml
Peel the potatoes, then cut them into very fine slices. A sharp
knife is fine,but if you have a mandoline (the vegetable slicer, that is, not
the lute-like stringed instrument), use that. Whatever, your slices should be
almost thin enough to see through. Do the same with the swede, keeping the
slices in cold water to prevent them browning.
Set the oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Peel and thinly slice the garlic.
Over a moderate heat, melt the butter in a flameproof dish or sauté pan about
25cm in diameter. When it starts to bubble, turn down the heat and add the
garlic. It needs to soften slightly without colouring – a matter of five
minutes or so. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the mustard. Tip about
two-thirds of the mustard and butter out of the pan and into a jug.
Drain the potato and swede slices and pat them dry with kitchen
paper or a clean tea towel. Put a third of the vegetables into the pan,
layering them neatly or just chucking them in as the mood takes you, then
drizzle them with some of the mustard butter in the jug. Season with the thyme
leaves, pepper and salt. Be quite generous with the salt. Repeat this twice, so
that all the slices of vegetable are layered with the thyme and the mustard and
garlic butter. Now pour the stock over the top.
Cover with a circle of greaseproof paper or kitchen foil, pressing
it down well on top of the cake. Bake for about an hour and ten minutes, until
tender to the point of a knife. Remove the foil, turn the heat up to 220°C/Gas
7 and bake for a further ten minutes until the top has coloured and crisped a
little.
