Love and Veggies

I made a scrumptious salad with the Kolrabi last night. I peeled it and sliced it thin and cut into half moons, finely chopped some strips of yellow pepper (the best peppers I have ever had), some roasted beets, yellow tomato and shredded green leaf lettuce. I made a vinaigrette of apple cider vinegar, EVOO, grated garlic, french mustard, cracked black pepper, salt and maple syrup and tossed everything in a bowl. Topped with goat cheese and roasted unsalted pistachios.

It was delicious…all thanks to Farmer Joan, which is what my 6 1/2 year old calls all veggies now…as in “can I have some Farmer Joan peppers in my lunch today Mama?”

I used the arugula and yellow squash to finish off a ragout of chicken thighs braised with white wine, tarragon, onion, garlic, carrot and celery over rigatoni. Yum.

How did you eat your veggies this week?

Thought this was interesting, since I have never had kohlrabi before.  There are probably others in our group who have never had it.
K

Excerpted from Rolling Prairie Cookbook, by Nancy O’Connor.
Kohlrabi can be one of those intimidating vegetables if you haven’t been around it much. It has the look of an organic green Sputnik, with a taste like fresh, crunchy broccoli stems accented by radish. The name kohlrabi comes from the German kohl, meaning cabbage, and rabi, or turnip, and that kind of sums it up.
SIMPLE SOLUTION:  Although these green bulbs look like they were dug up from the earth, the round bulb is a swollen stem that grows above ground. Not a commonly used vegetable in American cuisine, kohlrabi is widely used in Central Europe and Asia. It is still patiently waiting to be discovered in this country.

Handling: If the kohlrabi leaves are still attached to the bulb, trim them and store separately. If the leaves are in good shape – firm and green – they can be cooked but will need to be used within a couple of days. The bulbs should be stored, unwashed, in a plastic bag. They will hold for about a week in the refrigerator. Smaller kohlrabi are the sweetest and most tender. Bulbs much bigger than the size of a tennis ball won’t be as tasty and often have a pithy flesh.

Simple Preparation: Tender, young kohlrabi is delicious eaten raw. Peel the outer skin with a paring knife. Slice, dice, or grate, and add to salads. Use on raw vegetable platters or serve with a creamy dip. Substitute in recipes calling for radishes. Grated kohlrabi can be added to slaw, but lightly salt it first and let stand for several minutes. Squeeze to remove any excess water before adding dressing. Kohlrabi can also be steamed or boiled. For this preparation don’t peel until after they are cooked. Steam or boil until bulbs are tender, peel skin, and season with butter, salt, and pepper, a cheese sauce, or just enjoy plain.

If the leaves attached to the kohlrabi bulb are fresh and green, they can be enjoyed as a cooked green. Wash the leaves and remove the ribs. Blanch in boiling water until just wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze excess water from leaves. Chop leaves, then saute in a little olive oil or butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of vinegar or squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

A bag of baby yellow tomatoes, kolrabi, sweet potatoes, yellow peppers, green leaf lettuce, beets, dumpling squash and arugula was our pick for today.

Our squashes are soooo pretty I don’t want to eat them! I still have our butternut from last week that I plan to make soup with and the recipe is:

Peel, seed and cube butternut squash–set aside

Chop about 1 cup of mushrooms (use a variety for diverse flavor)
3 cloves garlic chopped very fine
1 large onion, diced fine
1 small apple peeled and diced
Put this mixture into a large stock pot and sweat it with a mix of EVOO and butter

Add one bay leaf, salt, pepper and thyme to taste

Add cubed squash and saute until tender

Add about 1 cup-ish of white wine or marsala wine

Simmer for about 30 minutes

Add 1 cup-ish of good low sodium chicken stock or veggie stock, simmer for another 30 minutes

NOW, either use a blender or a hand mixer right in the pot and puree until smooth and creamy. Finish with another big dab of butter.

Serve topped with toasted pecans/walnuts or pistachios. You can also put a dollop of Greek Yogurt or Creme Fraiche or Sour Cream or Quark and then add the nuts.

Serve with salad of Green leaf lettuce, chopped yellow tomatoes and Italian parsley. Top with a tart French Vinegarete

Vin:
In a jar with a lid that is tight fitting (an old mustard jar works GREAT!)
Add 1/3 good balsamic vinegar
2/3 EVOO
1 tsp. French Mustard
salt, pepper and tarragon
using a micro plane, grate 1 clove of garlic (or chop fine…we use our micro planer for LOTS of stuff. They are cheap and useful!)
A dash of good maple syrup (real, not the plastic squeeze bottle kind!) OR local honey
and shake to mix. You can use grainy mustard too OR another kind of vinegar like White Wine, Sherry.

Don’t buy salad dressing but make it yourself! Sub mint leaves and lots of cracked black pepper for a fresh twist. Add some lemon juice, dill and omit vinegar for a Greek sort of flavor. These all make very good marinades for fish, meat or tofu if you have left over.

But, I need to know…what to do with the kolrabi???????

Happy eating!

ps. BTW…we have about 15 bags of tomato sauce in our freezer…storing up for the winter. I need to learn to can and have a recipe in Barbara Kingsolvers “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” book that I should try. The trick is to NOT use any oil at all. They don’t explain why in the book but I know it is because anaerobic bacteria thrive in oil and you could breed tough little germs in your canning if you use oil in the mix.

6 orange tomatoes

1 small red onion

5 cloves garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

2 large carrots

1/2 red pepper

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

2 tsp sugar

1 cup white wine

1 large yellow squash

**************Method*****************

Saute onion, garlic, peppers, squash, salt, pepper and white wine. Add tomatoes, carrots, sugar. Cook for about 4 hours. Puree with hand mixer or blender. Freeze and enjoy some sunshine this winter.

**********************Serving suggestion************************

Cut thick slabs of goat cheese and coat with a mixture of flour, cornstarch and panko. Lightly fry until golden but not mushy. Serve over yellow tomato sauce and with green leaf lettuce shredded. Add fresh basil leaves to the top and some more cracked black pepper.

OR

Angle hair pasta, chicken sausage (I like Trader Joes…) cut into small chunks and toss with Yellow pasta sauce. Top with Feta cheese crumbles and fresh sage.

Enjoy!

xx

I go there in time today to say hey to Nestor which was great because I miss seeing him! We got yellow tomatoes, butternut squash, cukes, yellow squash, HUGE bouquet of basil, green leaf lettuce, green peppers and beets.

I am having my brother for dinner on Thursday   and am planning a menu of: WHAT I MEANT TO SAY WAS, I AM HAVING MY BROTHER OVER FOR DINNER, NOT FOR DINNER. ha.

Squash Cheesy pancakes, roasted beet-honey and green leaf salad, some kind of protein, tomato basil salad with a maple vinaigrette and a mushroom/butternut squash soup with toasted crushed almonds and a dab of greek yogurt. I think. It depends on how much we eat between now and then!

I am interested to see what the fall produce will be like and how many ways I can fix squash.

Today we got raspberries, tiny watermelon, chard, beets!, 2 kinds of tomatoes–Tony Roma and something else?, green leaf lettuce, yellow squash and peppers.

We received 10 tomatoes this week and I think more sauce will be brewing around here.

My friend Dave gave me a recipe today for squash salad:

Thinly slice yellow squash

toss with Lemon juice, salt, pepper and some onion/shallot  and garlic.

I think you could also add some fresh dill to this and maybe some green olives and feta cheese for a Greek style salad. Add some garbanzo beans and you would have a whole meal if you add lettuce/spinach/chard and some whole grain bread.

Happy eating this week.

How are you eating your raspberries this week?

Today we received a lovely assortment of green and red leaf lettuce, tomatoes including some heirlooms, purple peppers, more cukes!, cantaloupe, yellow watermelon and yellow squash, a new one for us!

Tonight I set about making sauce of our extra tomatoes ( my husband worked the CSA site today) and I have some pots bubbling away on the stove. I used tomatoes, onions (thanks Debbi for that swap last week!) garlic left over from last week, purple, red and green peppers, yellow squash (I don’t like squash very much but it makes good sauce) and some mushrooms we had kicking around the fridge that were getting old and dry. I put in a couple of bay leaves, sugar, salt and red wine and are ready to put in our freezer some lovely sauce for later.

My son came downstairs as I was starting the sauce to ask his dad how to turn off his new alarm/radio clock and stopped mid-sentence to ask him, “What smells so good?”

Seriously, does anything smell better than onions, peppers and garlic simmering on the stove?

Well, maybe cookies but it is right up there.

Happy eating!