Have you ever ate kohlrabi?
A German woman I knew grew them when I was a kid. She would cook them in an onion and butter sauce and they were my favorite vegetable. Although it's debatable if I enjoyed the butter sauce or the vegetable more. In any event, I haven't ate one in decades, until yesterday.
A farm hand from Paradise Valley Farm in Bolinas was the demo cook at the Pt. Reyes farmers' market. He picked what was available at the farm that morning and prepared it a couple of hours later with an audience. He was my kind of a cook, making it up on the spot with the ingredients in front of him.
He stuffed male squash blossoms with a leaf of basil wrapped around a triple cream cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery. He made a summer squash salad. And he made kohlrabi salad.
We were all skeptical. I'd never eaten raw kohlrabi before, but everyone liked it. I couldn't wait to make it today. The salad tastes fresh, as if by eating it I could sprout upper arm muscles or petaled blossoms from the palms of my hands.
Here's the recipe for two.
1 Peeled and Chunky Diced Kohlrabi
1 Minced Garlic Clove
1 Handful of Chopped Parsley
Olive Oil to Taste
Salt and Pepper
Using your hands, turn over all the ingredients until mixed thoroughly, adding olive oil, salt and pepper to your liking. Serve at room temperature.
The farm hand/cook recommended the salad be eaten with your fingers and he's right. A fork is too impersonal for such a clean and fragrant salad. And plus, it's more fun.
(Check out my review of an Unreasonable Woman at the Bookworm Blog.)
2 days ago
10 comments:
I love to just slice them and dip them in homemade dip! Crunchy!
my favorite is pickled kohlrabi -- if you use purple kohlrabi the pickling liquid turns a fantastic shade of magenta. Green works just fine too though
I've never had them any way but raw, and straight from the garden! My grandfather always grew them - it was his favorite thing to grow. I'll have to try it sauteed in butter!
That stuffed squash blossom sounds incredible. When I was in Turkey a few years ago, I became addicted to stuffed squash blossoms. It is a regular dish in the summer. MMMMMMM. Sometimes at home we just throw a few squash blossoms in with the roasted veggies (we throw them in at the last minute).
You know for all of the experimenting that we do, we've never eaten or grown kohlrabi. Although I've always thought it was the coolest looking thing. We must try them now!
I've a little purple one awaiting my attention.
I love it raw. And my parsley is going mad, I tell you.
My kinda recipe, too.
fearlesschef - That sounds so obvious now and I'd never considered it. That's why you're the chef! Thank you.
jen - They sound beautiful. Is it an old recipe or something you came up with? Do you eat them like pickles?
melinda - Anything in butter is good in my book. Enjoy. I was going to try the stuffed squash blossom recipe the next day too but the price of the blossoms was too precious. Next year I'll grow some on the back deck. The year I tried to grow squash that was all I got were blossoms. Lucky me.
kendra - I put some of the kohlrabi greens in a stew I made too. Not that I could tell them from the turnip greens but the stew was delicious. Raw, the greens taste very spicy.
lucy - The farm hand/cook was asked how he was going to cook something and his reply without hesitation was, "With great joy." Enjoy your little purple one.
That sounds like an excellent food demonstration!
I've never had kohlabri, I've seen it at the store, and a fellow gardener at our community garden is growing it. It always looked so weird I never knew what to do with it.
I think I'll have to pick one up next time I see it at the market and try this out. Thanks for inspiring me to try something new!
jennifer - The demo was terrific. Mostly because he was so not pretentious about it and respected all the food. There was nothing wasted or unappreciated. He said all the farmhands ate lunch together that way every day, picking what was in the field, preparing it and sitting down together. I wanted to invite myself!
Let me know how you like the kohlrabi.
that squash blossom does sound awesome! I have to admit I might be going into debt over my love for the cowgirl creamery one day soon. their brie is unlike any other i've had before.
melissa - But what a way to go! That cheese is ridiculous good. Northern California is likely the only place where you can gain weight by eating local.
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