Meatless Monday: Beautiful, Delicious Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi. This vegetable with its exotic sounding name and alien (as from another planet) visage appeared on my radar about a month ago when a friend sent over this link. Then it showed up as a secret ingredient in a Chopped  box, leading to one chef’s downfall.  

Intrigued, I began looking for it in the market but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, there it was — in the strikingly beautiful purple variety — at CitySeed on Saturday morning for $1.50 a “globe.” I bought four.

Kohlrabi is a German word translating to Cabbage (kohl) Turnip (rabi), not Cool Rabbi as posited on this blog. It comes in two varieties — purple and white (actually pale green).  Although Brassica Oleracea Gongylodes Caulorapa (its Latin name) resembles the turnip, a root vegetable, kohlrabi’s globe grows above the ground and is actually the swollen part of the plant’s stem. That accounts for the globe’s smooth “skin.” 

Kohlrabi’s peak season is June-July. Low in calories and high in fiber, kohlrabi is an excellent of source of Vitamin C and potassium, and a significant source of vitamins A and E and a number of other minerals. Both the leaves and the globe are edible. 

Kohlrabi has been popular in the cuisine of Eastern Europe ever since its sudden appearance in the middle of the 16th century. Although somewhat less common in the the New World, kohlrabi shows up in all my trusted volumes — from Fannie Farmer to the more recent Simply in Season [unlike nettles and ramps].

James Beard [whom I normally revere] decidedly dissed kohlrabi, writing in American Cookery in 1972: “This is rather a bastard vegetable. It is neither turnip nor cabbage ad is seldom as tender and crisp as it should be. To me it is a mystery why people really care for it. But they seem to, and it is in the markets all the time and has been for generations…” [But JB didn’t like cranberries either]. 

Most older cookbooks (including Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker, Fannie Farmer, and American Cookery) offered a variation on the same recipe: Peel, cut into small cubes, cook in boiling salted water until tender, and then serve with freshly ground black pepper under a cream sauce or loaded with butter. Fannie did mention that kohlrabi was also good raw with salt as a snack or salad and was the first place I saw Parmesan cheese suggested as a topping.

More modern chefs have realized that this beautiful vegetable deserves better. This site has gathered a number of kohlrabi recipes.

I decided to prepare my kohlrabi two ways. I first coarsely grated half a globe and added it to a fresh lettuce salad.

Inspired by this recipe, the next evening I prepared roast kohlrabi with fresh Parmesan. I peeled the remaining bulbs, diced them, and then mixed them with a little extra virgin olive oil, two garlic pieces, and a little salt. I roasted them in a casserole dish in a 375° oven, stirring occasionally, until they were lightly browned and tender, approximately 30 minutes. [I did not remove the garlic.] I served them topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese as a side. The salty cheese enhanced the mild turnip flavor. 

There were no leftovers. Yet another hit with my omnivore husband. I’ll be making this again, particularly if it stays as cool as it’s been [ever since the day we installed our A/C]. 

Have a good week, and please come back soon for more food facts or my latest produce discovery.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal  health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Salsify Makes a Comeback

Happy Monday everyone.

In 2010 celeriac (aka celery root), the chubby root vegetable with a pale and hairy visage, made the jump from farmers’ markets and specialty food shops to the produce bins of large supermarkets (at least here on the East Coast). Perhaps 2011 will be salsify’s year to make a comeback.

Only in Eataly have I tasted this root vegetable. It was early in November, the height of salsify season. Batons of Salsify was the only item that my cousin and I could not identify on the description of the antipasto plate. Rather than admit our ignorance, we decided to go for it. We were not disappointed.

The batons looked like baby carrots, only paler and not quite as plump. They had been braised until firm but not crunchy in texture and had a deliciously subtle taste. We could not imagine what form they had assumed when they were whole, but it was fairly apparent that salsify was a root vegetable.

Let me tell you the story of salsify, gleaned from cookbooks and googling. 

Salsify is indeed a root vegetable — long and tapering. Thomas Jefferson is said to have grown it. Scorzonera has a black skin; there is also a lighter-skinned variety with a grayish tinge. 

Salsify’s season is Fall to Winter. Late last year it could be found at a few green grocers in the New York boroughs, but this formerly favored root has not yet found its way back north and east to New Haven.

Renowned chef James Beard included salsify in his magnum opus American Cookery (1972): “Salsify was a popular root vegetable for many generations and then suddenly seemed to drop into disrepute. It was originally called oyster plant because it was said to have the flavor of oysters— so much so, says Mrs. Rorer [author of a 1902 cookbook often referenced by Beard], that vegetarians made Mock Oyster soups. The claim for its flavor I have never found to be true.” I would agree with chef Beard. I did not taste the oyster. Beard suggested scraping and boiling the roots (in “acidulated water” because the roots turn color almost immediately after peeling), and then provided three suggestions for serving: dressed with butter; sliced in a cream casserole; or puréed, combined with beaten eggs into salsify cakes, and then fried. James Beard is long gone, but his memory lives on at the foundation named after him. On this page of the foundation's blog you can learn more about salsify and see some celebrity top chefs featuring it in their recipes. 

The Joy of Cooking (1973 edition) urged readers to plant seeds for scorzonera if they plan to grow their own and advised that the roots taste best after being stored for several weeks at a temperature “just above” 32°. Once again there was advice about ways to avoid discoloration, including a suggestion to cook the salsify before peeling it. The Joy offered two recipes — one for salsify in cream sauce, the second for salsify fried with a cornflake coating.

A third cookbook in my collection — Fannie Farmer (1981 edition) also gave a brief reference to salsify. In this case salsify was described as a good accent in stews and meat pies and as a vegetable accompaniment to a variety of meat dishes. The recipes are basic — boiled and served with butter, or mashed with cream and butter. Fannie described the flavor as being “a little like oysters.” That’s more credible. 

None of the post 80s cookbooks in my collection made any mention of salsify. I did find this contemporary (in time and in taste) recipe for Damon Wise’s Pan-Roasted Salsify online. It actually sounds quite like what I ate at Eataly.

Now all I need are some roots. It has been suggested that salsify is a gardener’s plant — and that the best way to ensure a supply is to grow your own [or perhaps to get someone with a garden to grow some for you.] Heirloom seeds can be found at a number of sites such as this one. The variety in each case seems to be Mammoth Sandwich Island Salsify. 

The smell of dirt and spring is such a nice thought today. [It’s  2 PM. It’s under 13°. This is way too cold for the Connecticut shoreline…] 

Check back next Monday so I can tell you about my mushroom farm.

I try to blog on food or food issues each Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”