Roasted Beets

I haven't had beets in a LONG time. And I'm pretty sure I've had the ones that come out of a can and are in salads when I go to a salad bar. I roasted the beets and used this recipe to make the beets and the greens. I could leave the greens next time, but the beets were delicious. The roasted flavor was great - I ate them without any other salt/pepper or butter - just plain and they were yummy. Wei Yan turned his nose up at them, so I ate his as well.

Sauteed Kohlrabi

So I finally just sauteed the kohlrabi with a little butter & added some salt & pepper. It took a bit of work to cut off all the peel - my peeler definitely was not up to the task, so I eventually took a knife to it. Not bad raw or sauteed - can't really describe the taste too well, something between celery, potatoes and broccoli stems.

Zuppa Toscana!

 

This was our dinner on Friday night. It was really good, and after I took this picture, I added the rest of the kale so that we used all of it. I originally used half of what we got, but then I didn't know what we'd do with the rest of it, so I just threw it in the soup. I used the recipe from this site:recipe We used the italian sausage from Coon Rock Farms and made a pesto out of the garlic scapes (didn't use the flower part). The garlic scape-walnut pesto (on the bread) was still pretty strong with garlic. Next time I won't use any fresh garlic (had some left over from the soup) - although it might be a while for that since we have a bunch of pesto now.

Wash the broccoli well!

I'm usually pretty lazy about washing my veggies - I'm used to commercial veggies, where a quick rinse will do. I was cutting up the broccoli this evening when I reached down to pick up what I thought was a stem. Squish! I found about 3-4 little green caterpillars. I think I got them all, but I would recommend you wash it well and possibly out of site of any squeamish types...

Great way to make red cabbage

We used to make this recipe in Austria all the time, and it goes especially well with pork (yes, I used to eat meat). I seem to recall that I used a light red wine vinegar rather than the wine. I think either will work.

 

SWEET AND SOUR RED CABBAGE (GERMAN RECIPE)

1/4 c. butter 4 med. apples, peeled and sliced 1/2 red onion, chopped 1 head red cabbage, finely shredded 1 c. red wine 4 whole cloves 1/3 c. brown sugar 2 bay leaves 1/4 c. vinegar 1/4 c. butter Juice of 1/2 lemon Melt butter in 4 quart Dutch oven. Add apples and onion; saute slightly. Add cabbage, red wine, cloves, sugar and bay leaves. Simmer, covered for 1 hour, then add the remaining ingredients. Heat to melt the butter and serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

 

Kohlrabi is great sliced raw into salads. Also think of it as a substitute for the potato. Here's the next recipe I'm planning to make:

Spiced Kohlrabi with Cheese

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4 Servings

Spiced Kohlrabi with Cheese Ingredients

4 Kohlrabi	1 c Milk
pn Salt	1/4 c Grated American cheese
2 tb Butter	1 tb Chopped parsley
2 tb All purpose flour	1/8 ts Ground nutmeg

Instructions for Spiced Kohlrabi with Cheese

Cut off tops and pare the thickened stems of kohlrabi. Slice stems and drop into boiling salted water to cover. Cook for about 20 min or until barely tender. Drain well. Boil tender leaves separate in same manner; drain well. Chop leaves very fine and combine with stems. Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. Add flour and stir well. Gradually add milk and cheese and cook, stirring constantly until cheese is melted. Add kohlrabi and cook until heated through. Garnish with parsley and ground nutmeg. From: Womans Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, vol 7. Typed by Gail/Dale Shipp From Geminis MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

This Week's Box - June 12th

So we're getting:
* Red cabbage
* Kohlrabi
* broccoli
* kale
* radish
* squash
* fresh/green onions (instead of beets)
* fresh/green garlic (instead of beets)

There is a grand total of 4 recipes on foodtv.com for kohlrabi. And I've never cooked with fresh onions/garlic or the kale, so we'll be trying lots of new stuff.

I love olive gardens' zuppa toscana soup, so I've actually ordered some italian sausage (and the fresh onions & garlic scapes....before I knew they were switching out the beets - wanted to check out the scapes) in anticipation of getting my hands on some kale. Now I just have to find a yummy sounding recipe....

I'm actually kind of glad that we won't be getting beets this week. Probably too many new things to wrap my head around.

Oh, and by the way, I LOVE broccoli just steamed and dipped in a little mayo (I might sprinkle a little salt & pepper on the mayo) as a side. I'm not sure where that came from...must be a Japanese American thing or something cuz no one else I know besides JA people eat veggies this way (tomatoes, steamed green beans, cauliflower, artichokes, etc.)