Kohlrabi, strange vegetable relation of turnips and cauliflowers, is much loved almost anywhere except the UK. Go on any farmers market and ecstatic customers with continental accents snatch up huge bags of them and scurry home to gorge on delicacies made with this under-rated veg.
So why do I feel I have to keep apologising for it?
At a time of year when vegetables are in short supply, we find it an invaluable ally- fast to grow, very versatile as either a salad item, or stir fried, saute, casserole, roast, steamed in a sauce etc.
I made a really tasty vegetable accompaniment to bangers & mash by just braising carrot, kohlrabi slices, onion, and at the last minute, a few broccoli florets, in margarine, salt and black pepper- totally simple but delicious.
Anyhow, to prove that this vegetable is as good as I say, please enter our big KOHLRABI COMPETITION! Send in your recipes and comments, anmd we will choose a winner( or several if they are all wonderful!) who will receive a hamper of organic and fair trade goodies, and 25kg net kohlrabi ( just joking...)
I'll start of with an email I received from a customer this week:
Dear M et al
Just a line of support for your good work - as one who
said yes to the whole 'home grown' package and spurned
flown in lychees or even green beans from Kenya, I
say 'yes' to the humble Kohlrabi and was slightly
disappointed (no, that is a lie) to see none in my box
this week. I didn't even dare ask why onions had long
since disappeared off the radar, thinking that this
was all part of God's plan and that it wasn't up to us
mere mortals to question their non-existence.
Seriously, it's a bit like the 21C obsession with 2
week package tours to remote places like outer
Mongolia with punters then moaning that they can't
find semi-skimmed milk or somewhere to plug in their
hair tongs. Just DON'T GO.
Me? I'm off to mark some more A level French tapes
(now that IS hair-shirt and scourge)
Regards
Linda
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Kohlrabi - great for toddlers! I admit I was a little aprehensive on first finding this bizarre veg in the weekly box..so decided to test it out on the youngest member of the family first. Milo (one year old) is now a big fan of Kohlrabi, cut into batons and served raw, or even better; stir fried with a little ginger and chilli. We serve him a veggie stir fry and watch with wonder as he flings mushrooms at his sister, sticks carrots up his nose and....crunches away merrily on kohlrabi! might even try some myself soon...
Kohlrabi- I cooked it with some potatoes and sneaked it into mashed potato topping for cottage pie. Everyone thought it was really 'potatoey!' A bit like sneaking sweet potato into mashed carrots- my 3 children and hubbie did not even know!
I love it- like Jerusalem artichokes but cheaper and less fiddly.
Anything close to a cabbage is asking for trouble - if it's eaten.
Phillip Dent from Southwell has sent in thie excellent recipe which I had for lunch....
am a big fan of kohlrabi, although I must admit I only discovered it last year. I think this recipe works particularly well with kohlrabi becasue it absorbs all the flavours in the casserole and is just the right texture. It's delicious!
Root Vegetable Casserole
serves 4
2 carrots, 1 parsnip, 1 medium kohlrabi
450g baby new potatoes, scrubbed
225g small onions, peeled
1tsp sunflower oil
1 knob of butter
1tbsp demerara sugar
400 ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 bay leaves
salt and ground black pepper
chopped parsley to garnish
1. Peel carrots, parsnip and kohlrabi then cut into large chuinks.
2. Heat the oil, butter and sugar in a pan. Stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Add potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnip and kohlrabi. Saute for 10 mins until vegetables look glazed.
4. Mix veg stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree and mustard in a jug. Stir well, then pour over vegetables. Add the bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover and cook gently for about 30 mins until the vegetables are tender. Alternatively, piut it in a covered casserole dish and cook slowly, about R2, for about an hour and a half.
5. Remove bay leaves, season and serve, sprinkled with the parsley.
This is such a versatile dish - you can add/substitute leeks, mushrooms, sweet potato, celery, or even shelled chestnuts.
Recipe from Phillip Dent, Southwell.
This is really tasty- although as parsnips are out of season I substituted onions- Marjorie
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I've been attending outdoor events this year selling my home made vegetable soups... I now realise that even though a soup is an excellent and easy provider of a portion of daily veg .. 90% of the population won't touch the stuff if the ambient temperature is plus 20 deg, often quoting the remark "Its too hot for soup". Oddly its never too hot for baked potatoes, hot dogs and burgers from bits of dead animal that you really don't want to know about, pancakes dripping in hot chocolate etc.
So as I reviewed my marketing plan in an bold aim to make a little bit of profit..Chilled soup!!
Why not? that should overcome at least some of the objections to ingesting something healthy on a hot day.
So I set to and created Chilled Kohlrabi soup, brilliant.... took some to Brocklesby Fair...it was
a bit wet and cold and guess what?.....
"its too cold for chilled soup"!!!
Anyway thought I'd share the recipe with you it's simple enough and actually tastes good hot or chilled (but not at an inbetween temp).
To make about 4 cups you need:
250g trimmed kohlrabi
celery,courgette,onion and potato in equal amounts of about 60g each.
300-400 ml of vegetable stock
(the Kallo low salt organic cubes are good if you've not got fresh stock).
Dice up all the vegetables
Saute the chopped onion and celery until soft and the celery turns that nice fresh green colour.
Put the rest of the vegetables in the pan with half the stock and bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins.
Whiz up the mix with a hand blender/processor and add more stock until you get the desired consistency.
Season to taste.
If you have a food mill then wind the soup through to eliminate any bittiness (If you're serving hot then you can leave them in and call it rustic!)
Put the soup into small cups/ containers (it will cool quicker if you stand the containers in cold water)
and cover with a light cloth until
the soup is at room temp (don't leave it out more than 1hr or so).
Seal the containers and put them on the top shelf of your fridge, serve within 2 days.
If you serve the soup in glass tumblers with straws it might encourage the less adventurous to at least try it!
I know that this is a little late on in the season,but here goes anyway;it may still be useful. I steamed my kohlrabi whole,peeled it and cut it into thick slices which I put into an ovenproof dish along with steamed cauli.(You could add any veg)I covered it with a white sauce that was loaded with parsley, sprinkled breadcrumbs and grated cheese over,dotted it with butter and baked it til it was bubbling.My children loved it. Great with baked potatoes.........
Hi Helen, great to hear Milo eating Kohlrabi. Even more cosmo with ginger and chilli. Did you ever try it? Must check it out on Matthew!
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