The Super Swede

There's a highly under-rated commodity available on the side of most kiwi roads. If you're a backpacking foreigner a little down on the money, you'll be thinking free bras from bra fences, or shoes from shoe-fences. If you're a (mad) botanist, you'll be dreaming of that latest Bastow Wilson paper on roadside plant ecology (zzzz). If you're a keen pie-eater, there's a lot of road kill out there, just waiting to be turned into the perfect pie. It's my (fairly bizarre) opinion that roadsides are highly underrated. Think of the thousands of acres of space in New Zealand that is roadside strip. Think of the thousands of people that pass by these acres every day, and even the thousands of people who use them, without thinking. They're toilets, gardens, compost heaps, sets for photos, wildlife sancturies, and prime spots for electioneering. Many lives are started and ended on roadsides.

But back to my point. Roadsides are used as to market and sell one of New Zealand's most humble vegetables. Who hasn't picked up a 50c swede? On almost every rural kiwi road you drive down in winter, you're bound to find a trailer with a hand-painted (or hand spray-painted) sign advertising for sale this wonder veg.
Now, I understand that a number of you will be sniffing loudly at this point. Nothing but sheep fodder, you'll be muttering, and you're about to skim down to the bottom of my blog to leave a rude comment rubbishing them. Not so hasty my dear, not so hasty. How long is it since you've given the swede the time of day? I reckon that you just wrote them off as soon as they became the in-thing for farmers to feed their stock in winter.

I'm blogging for change. It's time for New Zealanders to stand up and embrace this iconic roadside gem. To help out with the revolution, I'm supplying you all with a Swede Soup reciepe - guaranteed to please. You can even test the claim that its an aphrodisiac, Mark.

Swede Soup

2 cloves crushed garlic
1 rasher of bacon
2 teaspoons butter
1 peeled swede, chopped into 2cm cubes
1 and a half cups of water
1 teaspoon green herb stock
1 teaspoon chicken stock
half a teaspoon sugar
2-4 tablespoons yoghurt, cream, or white sauce

Cook garlic, bacon and butter for 2 minutes.
Add swede, water, herb and chicken stock and sugar.
Simmer until the swede is barely tender.
Liquidise.
Add yoghurt, cream or white sauce.

And there you have it. A meal, for little more than 50c. And I promise you, Pip my dear, that it will taste better this way than if you were (errm how to put this) creative enough to eat it raw...