How to Enjoy Purple Kohlrabi

Before I talk veggies, I must announce the Grand Opening of Confreda's Maize. It's not your typical maize so check out the website for details!  The MAiZE opens TODAY, Saturday, September 15, 2012. MAiZE hours will run from 10:00am-6:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays, with the last ticket sold at 5:00pm.

Now, back to business.
Did you find something purple and cabbage-like in your CSA box this week? Did it look like this?

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  It sort of resembles a beet with the greens attached like this, but don't be fooled. Kohlrabi is part of the broccoli and cabbage families.  I peeled most of mine as I found the skin to be slightly tough but was pleasantly surprised by the inside. The taste resembles a very mild broccoli stem, with the texture almost like a hard apple or potato. It's definitely easy on the palate!

Kohlrabi can be eaten raw as well as cooked and the greens are also edible. For the glowing nutritional benefits of this beauty, click here.

Some ideas:

1. Cut into sticks and dip in Ranch dressing. My 9 year old loved it.
2. Shred it for a slaw
3. Pickle it!
4. Shred or slice and saute in olive oil or butter and season as you wish.

I still had some leftover rainbow carrots from last week's CSA so here is a recipe using 4 different CSA ingredients. I always challenge myself to see how much Community Supported Awesomeness I can squeeze into one recipe. Such a geek, I know!

Asian Kohlrabi/Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients
7-8 cups combined of shredded cabbage, purple kohlrabi, rainbow carrots (or standard carrots)  and chopped red peppers (all from the CSA) (I actually chopped a bunch of small chunks of the kohlrabi so they would stand out and people would ask, "What IS that?")

handful chopped fresh cilantro
4-7 chopped scallions

Dressing:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 toasted sesame oil
2 TBS creamy peanut butter
2 TBS cider vinegar
1 TBS rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Place all of the veggies in a large bowl and toss.
Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together until smooth and pour over veggies. Toss well  with the cilantro and scallions, or just one of these herbs. Your choice. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt & peppers.

Optional:

• Break up a package of Ramen noodles and mix in with the slaw. The noodles will be crunchy at first but will soften up after absorbing all of the liquid in the salad.
• Add sesame seeds and/or sliced almonds, or peanuts
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger added to the dressing

There are tons of recipes on the internet for Asian Slaw dressings. You can certainly play around with these ingredients without causing any major damage!

Enjoy.