Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a relative of the cabbage family. To me, it looks like a planet with a system of orbits. But it tastes like, well, cabbage.

A few Tuesdays ago at the South Side Farmers Market, Josh Jodikinos of Jodikinos Farm gave me some advice on this planetoid-vegetable.

Josh said that some people think kohlrabi gets woody as it grows larger. But really, he assured me, it remains tender until the fall.

To prepare the kohlrabi, Josh suggested first peeling it like a potato, then slicing it like a tomato. (Make sure you peel off the entire outer layer. Otherwise, you’ll be chewing on bitter, sinewy strands)

Josh and Pedro from Jodikinos Farm

You can cook kohlrabi any way you can cook a potato, but you can also use it on a veggie tray—Josh had eaten one raw earlier that day.

I peeled and sliced the kohlrabi when I got home. Dipped in ranch dressing, it made for a nice, crunchy snack. Later experiments with the vegetable, however, weren’t so successful.

Tart rhubarb filling sandwiched between cinnamon-oatmeal crumble makes for a delightful bar cookie.

6 stalks of rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch pieces
2-3 tablespoons of sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, diced, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 8×8-inch metal baking pan.Put chopped rhubarb in small saucepan. Top with 2 tablespoons of sugar, and add a few tablespoons of water to cover the bottom of the saucepan. Heat on high to boil. Then reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick, 10-20 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool and stir in vanilla extract. (Compote should be tart but not mouth-puckering. Add an extra tablespoon of sugar if necessary.) 

Combine flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in large bowl stir to blend. Cut in butter with pastry cutter or blend with fingertips until combined. Press half of oat mixture evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Spread with rhubarb compote. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture. Bake until brown at edges and golden brown and set in center, about 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into 16 bars.

Serve cold as a bar cookie, or warm with vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4

1 cup sliced almonds
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 clove of garlic, minced or pressed  
1 egg
1 lb of chicken tenderloins (or 4 small chicken breasts)
Salad greens for 4 people
1 pint strawberries
4 ounces of goat cheese 
2 green onions, chopped
balsamic vinegar 

Crush almonds with the back of a spoon. Combine on a small plate with thyme and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into egg. Then roll in almond mixture. Arrange chicken on lightly oiled baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes. (Larger or thicker pieces will take longer.)

While chicken is baking, divide salad, strawberries and goat cheese among 4 plates. Top with chicken, sprinkle with green onions and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

(If you’d prefer to grill the chicken, roll the goat cheese into balls and then roll in almond-thyme-garlic mixture.)

Beth, my sister and tonight’s guest eater didn’t complain that dinner wasn’t ready until 10. But she sure scarfed it down. (And I noticed later there were gnaw marks on her arm.)

It seems there are as many ways to make wedding soup as there are people who make it. I looked at several recipes online before creating my own:

Wedding Soup with Dandelion Greens and Endive

Wedding Soup—the pasta sank to the bottom

For the soup:
1 bunch dandelion greens, chopped in large pieces
1 head of endive, chopped in large pieces
2 quarts (8 cups) chicken stalk
1 quart (4 cups) water 
1 parmesan rind or a cup of grated parmesan
1 cup acini di pepe or other small, wedding-soup-appropriate pasta 

There are only so many ways to entertain yourself while rolling tiny meatballs. Making a pyramid is just one.

For the meatballs:
1 pound ground turkey, chicken or beef
1 small onion, chopped finely 
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
chopped fresh parsley, to taste 
dried Italian seasoning, to taste
dried hot pepper flakes, to taste 

Simmering the greens

Combine broth and water in large pot. Add cheese, and bring to simmer. Add greens and let simmer for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, combine all meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or your hands. Roll in half-inch balls if you have the patience. Mine increased in size with my appetite.

After you’ve finished with the meatballs and the greens have simmered for half an hour, add the pasta and cook for 9 minutes or according to the package instructions. Gently add the meatballs with about three minutes of cooking time last—these go last because they cook in no time. Note that if the onions aren’t chopped finely enough, they’ll escape into your soup.

When the meatballs are done, it’s finally ready!

Beth, tonight's guest eater, enjoys the soup

Besides the taste, one of the best things about this soup is leftovers. After our late-night dinner, we had enough for four lunches, and more to freeze for a rainy day.

Bok Choy
I started though, at the Blackberry Meadows Farm booth, where the assortment of produce, including dandelion greens and bok choy, caught my eye. Well, I only recognized them because they were labeled. But since I’ve never cooked or even knowingly eaten either, I needed some help…

Heath Gamache and his partner, from Blackberry Meadows Farm

Heath Gamache could have told me what to cook with moon rocks if I’d asked him! He recommended using the dandelion greens with endive in wedding soup—as long as I made my own meatballs. (Look for a wedding soup recipe with homemade meatballs later in the week.)

For an Asian-inspired salmon dish, he suggested sauteing the bok choy in sesame or peanut oil with garlic and ginger, pressing sesame seeds onto the salmon, serving with soba noodles, and garnishing with cilantro and a soy or balsamic glaze. Yum! He also suggested adding some mushrooms from Jonathan Cingota of Mushrooms for Life…

Oyster Mushrooms
Mushrooms are deceiving. If they were a cartoon character, they’d be the ogre with a heart of gold. Their rough, crinkled appearance disguises a delicate makeup and rich taste. The metaphor breaks down (you wouldn’t taste an ogre, would you?) but you get the idea. These mushrooms melt in your mouth. I know because Jonathan was almost sold out of his stock only two hours after the market started.

Jonathan Cingota of Mushrooms for Life shows off his oyster mushrooms

I’m never sure how to clean mushrooms, so I asked. Whatever you do, DON’T RINSE MUSHROOMS. Dust them off with a pastry brush. Jonathan also said that many mushrooms today are grown inside, with HEPA-filtered air, so they’re cleaner than a lot of things you put in your body. Good to know.

Bok choy

 Bok choy is a little spicy—like horseradish, but not as strong.

The ingredients

The green onions are left over from last week’s market. I’m considering the garlic a “pantry item.”

How to cut the oyster mushroom

Cut mushrooms at the end of gills, and discard the stems. Also, don’t overcook or you’ll end up with a rubbery texture.

Sauteing the bok choy bottoms with garlic

A drizzling of soy sauce and dusting of sesame seeds is enough to prepare the salmon

The meal

Scot's "happy plate"

Scot, tonight's guest eater

Sesame-soy Salmon with Bok Choy and Oyster Mushrooms

Sesame-soy Salmon with Bok Choy and Oyster Mushrooms

6 stalks bok choy, bottoms sliced thinly, like celery, tops shredded, like lettuce

1 cup oyster mushrooms, chopped in bite size pieces, discard stems

3 cloves garlic, slice thinly or pressed

chopped ginger

sesame seeds

1lb salmon

soy sauce

sesame oil

green onions

Prep first four ingredients.

Drizzle salmon with soy sauce and press with sesame seeds. 

Coat iron skillet or saute pan with sesame oil. Saute bok choy bottoms, garlic and ginger until bok choy is translucent (like onions), add mushrooms, add tops and cook until slightly wilted. 

In the meantime, cook salmon in hot oil, sesame-side down (skin up) for 3-8 minutes depending on thickness of salmon and desired level of doneness. 

Layer veggies over soba noodles; salmon over the veggies. Garnish with green onions.

Instead, I left with green onions, radishes, rhubarb and pepperoni roll—not the dinner of champions. (To those of you skeptics, yes, pepperoni roll is indeed in season now in western Pennsylvania.)

Simple Salad with Pepperoni Roll

Joe King of Joseph P. King Farm in Valencia, PA, recommended radishes and green onions in a salad. While not a novel or exotic suggestion, the two ingredients paired well with the tuft of mixed greens and arugula I plucked from my small city garden.

With a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, the simple salad and pepperoni roll were better suited for a nice light lunch than the dinner I had them slated for.

Cinnamon-cabernet Rhubarb Compote with Vanilla Yogurt

Rhubarb intimidates me. It’s not physically stronger or more intelligent (that I know of). It’s not particularly attractive. Nor is it frightening like a horror film—although its leaves are toxic.

Rather, it just seems difficult. There aren’t many ways to prepare it, and it requires overwhelming amounts of sugar to be palatable.

Joe King of Joseph P. King Farm in Valencia, PA, gave me some pointers on rhubarb

Joe King, of Joseph P. King Farm helped me overcome my apprehension today at the South Side Farmers Market. He said his kids eat rhubarb raw. Whether or not that was a marketing ploy, it worked. I bought a bundle.

Once home, I tasted the tip of a raw rhubarb stalk. It didn’t have the acidity of a lemon, but it was almost as sour.

The rhubarb prepares for a steamy evening

Joe suggested boiling it until it fell apart and then adding lots of sugar to taste. I remember having this as a kid—super sweet, stringy applesauce. Not bad, but I wanted something with more of an adult flavor. Lucky for me, I just happened to have some red wine…

The rhubarb cooks

Cinnamon-cabernet Rhubarb Compote

Cinnamon-cabernet Rhubarb Compote
Serves 2

5 stalks of rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup of Cabernet or other red wine
2 scoops of vanilla yogurt or ice cream

Put chopped rhubarb in small saucepan. Add sugar, cinnamon and wine. If wine doesn’t cover the bottom of the saucepan, add more until it does. Heat on high to boil. Then reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally. Add more sugar or cinnamon to taste. After 20-30 minutes, rhubarb should dissolve into a thick pulp. Divide and top with yogurt or ice cream. Enjoy the hot-cold, sweet-tart sensation.

Note: ingredient amounts are approximated. If you have more rhubarb, use it! Just add more sugar, cinnamon, and wine to coat the bottom of pan.