The most marvellous thing happened last Wednesday: my Vegetable Husband arrived!
No, I didn’t tie the knot – especially not to a turnip! (Though let’s be real, I’m over the moon for the brassicas.) I signed up for a weekly produce delivery service! Margie Thorpe’s Vegetable Husband is a kind of CSA for CSAs. Instead of buying a share of a particular farm before the growing season and paying up front for regular deliveries over a period of time (i.e., traditional Community Supported Agriculture), Margie scouts a bunch of great local farms for her own selection of goodies, collects them for her subscribers, and has local deliverers truck ’em to your front door in precious little baskets. If I understand correctly, it’s kind of like she buys a giant CSA share for all of her fans and then parcels out the gems. Even if I’m totally confused, it’s clear that she maintains great relationships with a variety of farms and gets some truly beautiful food as a result.
These pictures are all of my first (unofficial) basket, a discount-rate “tester” that arrived last Wednesday afternoon. From delivery to use, I’ve been totally delighted with everything. Especially since I am paying the same amount that I spend at grocery stores on organic items trucked in from California and heavens-knows-where-else. No joke! Just $35/week buys enough local, organic produce for two folks to last until the next delivery.
Left to right: arugula, (duh), lettuce, flat-leaf parsley poking out.
Japanese turnips, Red Russian kale.
Close-up of the turnips, a rainbow of bound chard stems.
Perhaps my favorite part of getting a surprise basket of vegetables is just that – the surprise! Like an actor thrown into improvisation, I’m forced to get creative and go with whatever’s tossed my way. This week? Kohlrabi.
Pictures above and below: different varieties of the same vegetable, the so-called “German turnip”!
Kohlrabi’s made it onto my plate before, but never as a result of my own effort. When a new vegetable shows up on my cutting board, I pull out a particularly heavy book: Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference: 500 Recipes, 275 Photographs
I’ve owned it for the better part of a decade and, at almost 800 pages, it has served me well! The entries are well-organized and clearly written, a nice balance of anecdotes with chef’s notes and general curiosities.
The second volume I consult is The Flavor Bible. As with so many other awesome things, the lovely Lagusta of Resistance is Fertile (personal blog) and Bluestocking Bonbons (world’s best chocolates) turned me on to this one. As you can see, it’s a book of flavor affinities. Look up any whole food, cuisine type, or sometimes, even concept (like, “slow-cooked”, or “luxurious”) and find a list of ingredients that pair well.
So I sought kohlrabi, and what did I see?
Well, ingredients in bold are said to go especially well. So what have we here? Unsalted butter, cream… hold it right there! Apparently a classic pairing/preparation has a lot to do with the milk “products” of another species? Not exactly down with that, I wondered… what’s something super rich, fatty, and flavorful that might work instead? Hmmm… it’s stretching the boundaries of my little vegan brain… but oh… I think… I’m… on to something…!
Kohlrabi three ways
- Simply shredded and sauteed with shallots
- In cream sauce
- Sweet and sour greens
For the first two ways, you’ll need
- At least four small-to-medium-sized kohlrabi
- Two or three shallots
- Coconut fat/oil
- Good-quality organic dried ginger
- Coconut cream
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
Peel the kohlrabi and shred it in the food processor (or with an old-timey grater, if you’ve got some time on your hands).
Mince two or three shallots.
Heat some coconut fat over medium in a cast-iron skillet, like so:
Add kohlrabi shreds and shallots; sauté four minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.
I think it’s a good idea to taste new foods in relatively un-fussed-with states, so that you know how to build on their strengths and downplay potential weaknesses. That’s why before even shredding the kohlrabi I reserved a few thinly sliced pieces raw. The idea behind this first preparation is to taste kohlrabi lightly cooked with only two other influences, so you can really taste it.
preparation one: sauté shreds four minutes in coconut oil with shallots. Serve.
preparation two: to sautéed shreds, add a pinch of organic dried ginger and a couple tablespoons of coconut cream:
Mix thoroughly while cooking two minutes more. Season with sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper. Serve. (Psst: I’m super-proud of this recipe because I googled after I made it and couldn’t find anything like it anywhere! Maybe it’s because it’s so simple, but I’d like to think it’s cuz I’m just a clever gal!)
preparation three: sweet and sour greens, adapted from a recipe by Andrew Weil
You’ll need
- Greens from four kohlrabi, stems removed, rinsed and chopped
- red pepper flakes
- three or four cloves of garlic, minced
- apple cider or brown rice vinegar
- brown sugar
- tamari or soy sauce
- dried ground mustard, preferably organic
pre-step: thoroughly combine about two tablespoons of the vinegar with about two teaspoons of the brown sugar and a teaspoon or so of the tamari. (sorry for the “abouts” – I’m not trying to be vague. It’s really to your taste!)
Greens rinsing/soaking in purified water.
Chopped. I kind of roll the greens together in little stacks and then cut them width-wise. Can you tell?
step one: add coconut fat/oil to a pan over medium-high. add minced garlic + red pepper flakes to taste.
step two: cook one minute, stirring. please *don’t* allow your pot to get so hot the garlic burns. that just makes everyone sad.
step three: add the shredded greens and a generous pinch of dry mustard; mix thoroughly.
step four: pour in the vinegar/brown sugar/tamari mixture. mix thoroughly. a “pot liquor” or brown cooking liquid should start to form from the wilting greens.
step five: reduce heat to low and cover. depending on how thick the greens are, steam. kale likes less than five minutes; collards? at least fifteen, unless they’re really young and tender. kohlrabi greens seem to be somewhere in the middle.
and now, the fun part – serve!
Try it raw first. Raw kohlrabi tastes to me like a radish without the bite. So what’s that? Cool, creamy, sweet. Refreshing. Crunchy!
Next, lightly cooked. Try the steam-sauteed kohlrabi with coconut fat and shallots but no other seasonings. Yummy:
Your patience is a virtue. Now, an entire plate of tender kohlrabi cooked with aromatics and seasoned with cream, salt and pepper! A comfort food explosion – totally rich and creamy but absolutely different from anything you’ve ever had before. Eat it all! You’ve totally earned it, and it’s not like you’re gonna be able to stop anyway. It’s just that good!
The tangy greens are a lovely foil. Don’t forget to lick all the pot likker off your plate!
A new vegetable three ways, and in way less time than it took to write this blog post! Mmm. Thanks, Vegetable Husband!