My Swedish grandmother always mashed the rutabaga up with potatoes and served with gravy or butter. It was delicious.
It took me three goes to post while The Chao Goes Mu gets to post three times :).
Hope the meal worked out DV.
So the final verdict;
DorkVader the Elder: the Mashed Rutatato with brown gravy–meh. This was a miscalc on my part, too much butter in the mix made them somewhat thinner than was wanted.
Gravy was what you’d expect from a plastic envelope. I’m not really a gravy guy though and gravy from scratch is an Eldritch Mystery Upon Which The Foundations Of The Universe Are Built, to me anyway.
The green beans and carrots turned out nicely.
The Steaks. I went and bought a rather inexpensive cast iron pan just for the steaks. Even though I don’t prefer cast iron for most cooking, something told me this time, that was the way to go. I’m glad I did, I don’t beleive they would have turned out as well in one of my other pans.
Heated the pan nice and hot, grabbed the steaks out of the Italian dressing marinade, put them in and wow did my house smell good. Steaks were delicious, cooked to 135F allowed to rest while mashing the tubers. A little too sweet, but the idea worked well and with a little tweaking can easily be brought to perfection.
DorkVader the Younger: the Mashed Rutatato and gravy was edible, the green beans and carrots were good the steak(any food I don’t want to eat at the moment, but meat with the least factory processing always) was revolting. Dad made me eat the four bites he made me agree to yesterday in exchange for orange slices candy and chocolate while we watch Alita Battle Angel tonight.
WAIT A DANG MINUTE!! There was rutabaga in the mashed potatoes??? No wonder Dad made gravy !
You gotta get on the ‘Wondra’ bandwagon for gravy making. Works great. Ask ~VOW.
So, thanks for the suggestions and ideas and tips everyone. I really had no clue what to do with the veggie when I bought it, it was an adventure impulse buy
Yeah people impulse buy purses cars houses toys, I buy food I’ve never eaten before.
Tell me of this “Wondra” you speak of
Wondra is a flour that is super sifted. It makes gravy making uber easy. You just sprinkle it over your meat juices and slowly add water (exactly the same method you make pan gravy) thickens quickly and non lumpy. Great stuff.
Wondra is flour that has been pre-cooked and then dried/powdered, so it dissolves instantly without clumping when you add it to gravy.
Wondra is the first wonder of gravy making. Gotta have it.
I REALLY loved my Nana’s cooking. 
Congrats on how well the meal turned out, DV.
I would have only added, if I saw the thread in time, to ask everyone if they thought that roasting the veggies in a 450 oven with a teensy bit of oil, might’ve improved their flavor? It certainly does for hearty vegetables like beets, celery root, and the like.
On gravy making, practice making rouxs, and see if your gravies improve.
I’ve never used Wondra, I might have to try it, though lumps are not a problem for me. The best gravy though, requires carmelization of meat. When I cook a roast, I have the temp up way high for the first 15 minutes and then I turn way down for the rest of the roast cooking time. I get fantastic gravy out of it (though never enough). This can work well with steaks in a cast iron pan too but I’m not sure about the Italian dressing flavor in a gravy.
My father grew up eating rutabaga but my mom called them flavorless carrots, so we only at them at grandma’s house. I like their mild sweetness. They work well to show off other flavors, and putting them with sharp, tangy flavors is a favorite of mine, so is putting them in a herbed vegetable cassarole or stew.
Rutabagas canhave that purple&white colouring. But the flesh is yellowish.
Ah, yes, I have had rutabaga like that. Thanks for the correction.