What better way to celebrate Burns night than with neeps and tatties, a Scottish side often served alongside Haggis. This foreign-sounding recipe comes from Scotland and means swede and potatoes.
What are Neeps & Tatties?
Neeps and Tatties is a traditional side dish from Scotland. The term “neeps” refers to the use of swede or turnips. While potatoes give it’s name to “tatties.” Neeps and tatties are the words used in the Scottish dialect as they sound similar to the original vegetable. They are often served alongside Haggis during a traditional burns night feast.
Haggis is a traditional Scottish meat dish made from sheep’s offal and oatmeal. It’s also moderately spiced. The chopped meat is encased in the casing of the animal’s stomach. The finished sausage-like pudding is either steamed or baked. According to Scotland.org, Haggis, alongside Neeps and Tatties, is Scotland’s national dish.
Neeps & Tatties
Neeps – Neeps may refer to one of two vegetables in old cookbooks. The term refers to turnips or the Swedish variety of turnips known as a swede in English. Both vegetables come from the same family, but turnips are smaller with smooth white skin, while Swede has tougher, yellow flesh. For this recipe, I’ve used yellow Swedish turnips for my tatties.
Tatties – Tatties are the easiest vegetable to understand as the term refers to potatoes. Authors and chefs have argued about what potatoes are best to use. I prefer Maris piper potatoes as they’re versatile, meaning unused potatoes can be used again another day. They’re fluffy but don’t fall apart during cooking. This variety is also easily found and most often available in UK supermarkets.
Cooking Neeps and Tatties
The vegetables are cooked separately until soft enough to mash. Boiling them in salted water will help break down their starchy exterior while helping to season the finished dish. Here, however, is where most recipes tend to separate in their methodology. Some recipes call for mashing the potatoes and swede together, while some call for separate mashing. I’ve chosen to keep them separate as I like the contrasting colours when served alongside traditional Haggis.
Neeps and Tatties
Ingredients
Method
- Bring two pans of water to the boil and add 1 tsp of salt to each pan.
- Add the swede to one pan and cook for 20-25 minutes until the swede has softened and can be mashed.
- After around 10 minutes, cook the potatoes in the second pot for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes soften enough to mash.
- Drain each vegetable separately, then return to the dry but warm pan. Lightly mash with the back of a fork while folding through 30g of the butter through each vegetable. Season to taste and serve separately.
- Alternatively, add the potatoes to the cooking swede water for 15 minutes, drain them together, and mash them with all the butter. Season to taste.
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