Eating Dirt

Three Cheers for Kohlrabi!

Kohlrabi is something I remember vaguely from my childhood. My mother presented it to us in the kitchen, a strange alien form she found either at the grocery store or in her garden. It was not purple, but a pale greeny white, as though it might taste minty or sweet like a honeydew melon. She peeled it, cut it into cubes and then, announcing her love for the thing, served it to my brother and me with toothpicks. It was not minty, or sweet. Maybe a little bit refreshing with a strong whiff of broccoli, and all around objectionable to our young palates. We squealed in horror and ran out into the yard, never to touch kohlrabi again.

So imagine my surprise when a modern, giant version arrived in our CSA box. Not sure what to do, I consulted my cookbooks. Nigel Slater seems to have avoided this vegetable, Alice Waters didn't include it in her latest book, nothing in Mad Hungry or Canal House, and all Joy of Cooking had to recommend was kohlrabi with parmesan. Not terribly appetizing, but at least I'd learned it could be cooked. Eventually Stephanie Alexander emerged as the Queen of Kohlrabi. She is Australia's Kitchen Garden Master, with multiple pages of kohlrabi recipes in her book Kitchen Garden Companion, plus a paragraph on how to select a good one.

"It is best picked at about the size of a small apple," she says. Closer to the size of a football, ours served us well through three meals, after having its woody bits removed. We ate roasted root vegetables with lentils from Eat Good Food, Kashmiri-style slow cooked kohlrabi leaves and my favorite, Kohrabi and chickpea soup. The best part about kohlrabi? I told the kids it was potato, and they believed me. Maybe next time one arrives with the produce I'll get out some toothpicks and reveal my duplicity.

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Kohlrabi and Chickpea Stew (adapted from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion):
(Click here for printable recipe cards.)

1 t cumin seeds (or ground, to speed things up)
1 t coriander seeds (or ground)
1/2 t chili flakes
1/2 t ground turmeric
2 T olive oil
1/2 lb kohlrabi, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 can or about 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
1/2 lb tomatoes (green ones work fine)
1 T tomato paste
4c water (or so, whatever looks right to you)
1 t salt (or more to taste)
1/2 small handful chopped coriander (aka cilantro) or flat leaf parsley

If you have five spare minutes, dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds in a small skillet until they are fragrant, watching carefully because they burn quickly. Then grind them with a clean coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. They are more flavorful this way than pre-ground, but you can use pre-ground spices if you are in a hurry. Either way, mix the chili and turmeric with the cumin and coriander.

Heat the olive oil in a medium pan until it shimmers, then fry the spice mixture for one minute. Add the kohlrabi and sauté for a couple minutes more, then add all remaining ingredients except the coriander or parsley leaves. Bring to a simmer, then continue to simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the kohlrabi is as tender as you like it. Taste and add salt if needed.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with parsley or coriander.
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Stewy Roasted Root Vegetables with Lentils

Get your chard on!

Today was a second great day for my garden - I've eaten two salads from it. For lunch, I had some mixed lettuces with a hard boiled egg and vinaigrette along with an open faced mozzarella and avocado sandwich.  The kids ate peanut butter and honey roll-ups, on wheat tortillas. They sampled the salad while harvesting but weren't interested once it entered the house.

Now, for dinner, we're having my favorite arugula salad of all, along with the very last butternut squash in our kitchen. (Well, actually there is one more, but its humungous and moldy at the top and must be composted.)  Its officially spring, so I think that means we'll be done with the squash. (Except for an acorn squash still hanging around on the counter).  Hurray!  I'm always looking for new winter squash recipes, if you happen to have a good one.

The Stewy Roasted Root Veggies is adapted from Canal House Cooking volume 3, which is my goto cookbook for this week.  I'm celebrating its arrival, but promise to move on to other sources in a few days. Usually I'm not fond of cooking with wine, but thought I'd give it a try in order to rid the kitchen of any remaining winter veg.  In fact, I paired it up with the arugula to bring in a little spring- but really the two do well together.  

Speaking of the arugula, I planted it from seed on February 5, in one of our raised beds underneath the big cold frame I bought this year, in advisement from Nigel Slater.  What a great idea - I just grew salad in six weeks. In February. With no irrigation. And there's still more - today I just thinned the plants a little bit.

Today the kids and I planted two beds of carrots - in with some onions (to keep pests away), one in the sun and one in shade that will be sunny by the time summer rolls around.  I'm told that you should start carrots in cold soil and finish them in heat, so I'll see how that goes.  We also started weeding and sweeping the patio - its all very exciting.  And I'm trying to figure out how to trellis the kiwis - they've started leafing out, so I guess I'd better get on that one.  

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Stewy Roasted Root Vegetables (adapted from Canal House Cooking volume 3):

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

4 large shallots, peeled

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into pieces

4 carrots, peeled and cut into pieces

4 parsnips, peeled and cut into pieces

2 cups white wine

3 bay leaves

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Heat half the olive oil with the onions, garlic and shallots in a large ovenproof pot over medium heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until soft and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Scrub and cut up the other vegetables while the onions cook.  For the squash - I recommend using half of a large one if you can't find a really small one.  To make prepping the butternut easy, cut it in half where the neck starts to round out into the bottom, so that you have one round piece and one long thin one.  slice off the top with the stem horizontally, and the bottom too.  Then peel each half with a vegetable peeler.  

Arrange the carrots, parsnips and squash in the pot with the onions, garlic and shallots, and stir them up. Season with salt and pepper, then pour in the wine and add the bay leaves.  Add the rest of the olive oil and roast, uncovered, until the vegetables are tender, around an hour or so.

While the veggies are cooking you should make the lentils.

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French Lentils:

1 cup french lentils

salt 

balsamic vinegar

Put one cup french lentils into a medium pot, cover by about an inch with water.  Bring the lentils to a boil, then cover partially and turn the heat down to simmer.  Check the lentils in about twenty minutes.  Add more water if the pot is getting dry.  The lentils will be done when they are soft, but not falling apart.  When they seem just about done, add a teaspoon of salt and let them simmer for five more minutes. Finish by mixing in a splash of balsamic vinegar and salt to taste.

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Arugula Salad:

1 bunch arugula

1/2 lemon

2 Tablespoons olive oil (or so)

3 Tablespoons pine nuts

a bit of parmesan cheese, shaved

salt and pepper

Wash the arugula and cut off all the long stems with no leaves.  Spin it dry and put it in a salad bowl.  In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts on medium heat.  They will burn very quickly, so you should devote all your attention to the skillet while they toast.  When they are brown and smell good, remove them from the heat and into a bowl. Right before you serve the salad, squeeze the lemon and toss it with the greens.  pour the olive oil into the bowl, salt and pepper and toss. Sprinkle the pine nuts and cheese over the top of the salad.

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