Tuesday, March 24, 2009

What's This at the Temescal Farmers Market?

Anyone know what this is? It's a vegetable, I give you that. But isn't it unusual looking? I spotted it at the Temescal Sunday Farmers Market in Oakland awhile back, and then I bought a bunch just out of curiosity.

OK, some of you might know that this is called a Kohlrabi. I know, you're still saying "what is that?" Me too. The guy at the market says it's super sweet when roasted, but when I got home and did a quick Googling job, it says it's more like a radish. A common recipe is to make it into a cole slaw because it has less bite than a radish. So I just shaved them into slices and made a crunchy salad.

It was interesting and definitely like the texture of a radish, but without that sting. If any of you grew up with this (I think it's popular in Germany), tell us how you prepare it and what's your favorite dish with this unusual veggie.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Roast it, like he said, with roast meat. It's beautiful.

Kim said...

In Wisconsin, they boil the crap out of it. Yuck.

Anonymous said...

roast+puree+butter+parmesan+cream = delicious

Anonymous said...

p.s. Temescal is my weekly stop...Rockridge is my hood.

Anonymous said...

Yes, please roast it. Or steam it. It's really so much of my childhood from a farm in the midwest. It sort of makes me homesick.

Single Guy Ben said...

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Sounds like this was a regular staple in some people's households (not mines obviously). I will definitely try roasting next and Mark, anything with butter, parmesan and cream has got to be good! And Kim, yep, anything boiled will probably not be as tasty.

Anonymous said...

At first glance, I thought those were some pretty paper mache roses! ;)
Lovely veggies. And it's always so much fun to discover new ones to cook with.

Anonymous said...

It's like a giant broccoli stem. Cook like you would broccoli.... stir-fried with beef, whatever.