Oven baked Rutabaga Fries, a Review & a Giveaway

by Shumaila

So after more than a month of no blogging, I am back and plan to keep it that way. I could give you the reasons for not blogging, but I realize I will just end up whining. And that is something I just don’t want to do, especially today.

Since I have been away for so long I thought I would come back with not only a recipe but a giveaway as well.

A few weeks back Ariosto seasonings sent me some samples to review.  (Do understand that even though these samples are free, I have not been paid for the review and the opinion I share today is unbiased, or as far as being unbiased goes)

Ariosto seasonings have been very popular in Italy for over 47 years. They have an excellent range of Italian seasonings which combine the right amount of specially selected herbs, spices and Sicilian sea salt to perfectly flavor meat (chicken, beef, pork and lamb), fish and side dishes. The seasonings use herbs such as rosemary, sage, juniper, bay, oregano, garlic, thyme, sweet marjoram, basil, coriander, onion, parsley, carrot and celery to create traditional Mediterranean mixes. All the seasonings are natural as they don’t contain preservatives, colorings or MSG.

I received several packages of Ariosto seasonings. One was for poultry and meat, one for tomato sauces, one for roasted or fried potatoes, one for fish, and one with garlic and chili pepper.

When I got the samples I was still undecided as to what to try the seasonings on. June onwards I am planning to go on a low carb diet (since I do not plan to whine in this post, I will not go into details why I choose to go on a low carb diet) and have been looking up recipes and foods online that would help me support this diet. I read about how turnips are a great substitute for the carb rich potato, especially in french fries. Since the samples sent had a packet of roasted potato seasoning I thought I would try making homemade oven baked turnip fries.

Since our grocery only carries Rutabaga- swedish turnips, I decided to use them instead.

Rutabaga is a root vegetable. And they have less than a third of the carbs and less than half the calories of potatoes, plus a bigger hit of vitamins and minerals. And look at them- don’t they look exactly how regular fries would look?

These fries sure did fool V. Even after he tasted them, he was not able to tell the difference and thought they were regular fries (bare in mind V is no food connoisseur, and plus the seasoning might have affected his taste buds). Of course once I told him that the fries were made from Rutabaga, he realized that there was actually a difference in taste.

Different or not, these were great. Non-fried and lesser carbs than regular fries! And the seasoning made it all the more better. I used the Ariosto seasoning for roasted potatoes and I added a little chilli and garlic seasoning sample they had sent for a bit of heat. Topped with a little grated parmesan, these were great with chicken tikka pasties I had made for dinner. I love it when things not only taste good but are actually healthy for you!

OVEN BAKED RUTABAGA FRIES

serves 2-3

Ingredients

  • 2 rutabaga (swede turnips)
  • 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp Ariosto potato seasoning
  • 1 tsp Ariosto chilli garlic seasoning
  • grated Parmesan cheese, to sprinkle on top

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
  2. Peel the skin off the rutabaga and julienne it. Make sure you have a good sharp knife to cut the rutabaga. I sliced mine up into equal (french fry-not skinny) size pieces
  3. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, layer the julienne rutabaga and sprinkle the olive oil and seasonings. Mix well.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes, tossing after 10 minutes or so, so that they bake even.
  5. Once baked, sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top. Serve with some tomato ketchup.

*ARIOSTO SEASONING GIVEAWAY* *THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*

The generous folks at Ariosto also sent me some extra seasonings that I could giveaway to the Novice Housewife’s readers.

The giveaway includes:

  1. Seasoning for roasted meats grilled chicken.

  2. Seasoning for roasted and fried potatoes.

  3. Seasoning for oven cooked or Barbequed Fish

Entry Requirements:

How to Enter: Leave a comment on this post. Yes it’s that simple!

Additional entry: For a second (bonus entry), subscribe to this blog by email, and leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

Required: You must include your email address in the comment form. I will need it to contact you should you win. You should also have a valid US shipping address.

Deadline: Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time.