I love my farmer’s market. The people are all so nice. One of my very favorite farmers is a young man who grew up on a farm, learning farming at his father’s knee. He has a love of dirt, plants, bugs, bees and people, and is just a nice guy to know. He often comes to the farmer’s market himself, or sends his sister to tend the booth. Last week they had some things tied together that looked like Sputnik:
Sputnik, by Fotero on Flickr
I asked what on earth they were and what one did with them. Turns out they are kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is one of those vegetables you see on lists of great, wonderful, important vegetables that we need to get more of into our diets. They have a nickname: German Turnips. I find this fits them quite well. They do taste very turnip-y when eaten raw. I’m not a big fan of turnips. I find the sulfuric flavor of turnips and rutabagas lasts long after cooking and tends to overpower a lot of dishes. But Sarah convinced me to give these a try. One site suggested cooking them in a custard-style base with ham, and I thought that would be something my family might like. So, I took the lovely purple bulbs, skinned them and diced them. I found them easy to skin, much like a jicama.
I sauteed the diced kohlrabi in some butter for about ten minutes, tasting every so often until the “cabbage” flavor dissipated and the pieces were nearly soft. I whisked three pastured egg yolks into a cup of raw cream with a little pepper and diced up a half pound of pastured ham. I mixed the ham and kohlrabi cubes in a small casserole dish and poured the eggs over. It baked in about 20 minutes at 350° and was a lovely golden color. I guess it smelled pretty good cooking because I left to get my camera and came back to an empty casserole dish! They didn’t even leave any for me! Come to find out about it, though, someone hid a serving away to take to work the next day. I didn’t try the greens, but my cavies sure did love them!
This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays, hosted this week by Kelly the Kitchen Kop; Make it From Scratch blog carnival and The Bare Cupboard blog carnival.
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June 11, 2009 at 1:23 am
Accidental Huswfe
Great post! I love kohlrabi — one of the few brassicas that grow well here. But I didn’t know they were called German turnips.
June 18, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Katie
I got a kohlrabi at the farmer’s market this week, too! Mine are green though, and I slice them like carrot sticks and eat them raw with dip. The green ones taste a little like mild broccoli.