thoughtful consumption

Kohlrabi is related to cabbage and definitely sports a cabbage-y flavor. Often kohlrabi comes with stems and leaves attached. You can sort of see a whole kohlrabi in this picture of a CSA delivery from May 2009.

The kohlrabi's the purple thing towards the left laying on its side.

But it’s easier to see in this picture from Washington State University’s herbarium.

Last week, I received a green bulb and a purple bulb without tops. I’m guessing in the wintertime the tops don’t grow so well.

Normally, I would dice kohlrabi and use it in stir-fries and casseroles. Today, however, I tried stuffing the bulbs as suggested in this kohlrabi recipe.  Basically, you scoop out the centers of the kohlrabi and steam the hollow bulbs. While they’re steaming, you make a sausage hash. Finally, you stuff the hash in the steamed bulbs, top with bread crumbs, and stick them under the broiler for a few minutes.

Scooping out the centers of the kohlrabi with a melon baller was easier than I expected. The kohlrabi are solid, so there’s little danger of scooping too much away and having the outside break or collapse.

I steamed the hollow bulbs for about 20 minutes. They were done faster than the recipe suggested probably due to their relatively small size.

While the bulbs were steaming, I got to chopping produce and defrosting Gum Creek sausage for the hash. The recipe called for using the kohlrabi greens, but missing those, I just added the scooped out parts of the kohlrabi bulbs along with the onions and garlic.

chopped onion, kohlrabi, and garlic

And I didn’t have any rice, so I used corn grits. I considered using the vegetable broth from last week’s delivery, too, to make this meal almost entirely “out of the box.” In the end, however, I decided to use the chicken stock I made several days ago.

The hash turned out great. Here’s a steamy pic.

And here are the final results.

The salad is local lettuce and sliced Asian turnips plus some feta cheese.

I had extra hash and bread crumbs, so I put both back under the broiler minus the kohlrabi casings.

The verdict? I loved the hash with the grits, and kohlrabi has nice flavor that only needs a little salt and pepper to make it sing. However, the whole stuffing part seems kind of silly. Given the same ingredients again, I would chop the entire bulbs and simply make a hash, top it with breadcrumbs, and put it under the broiler.

No muss, no fuss, and two happy winter lunch campers.