Kohlrabi, Scallions & Garlic Scrapes

Ok, maybe I do have something to say after all.

Geoff and I have purchased a half of a farm share (we're splitting it with Catherine). For those of you who don't know, Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for us city folk to get farm-fresh food without it being picked raw and shipped halfway around the country. It's also a fun way to try new food, since you have no control over what will be in your CSA box each week - you have to figure out what to do with whatever you end up bringing home with you.

Our first week of the CSA gave us strawberries, green garlic, turnips, beets, lettuces and spinach. Neither Geoff nor I had ever cooked turnips or beets before (although we both like beets a lot), but the farm's website had a recipe for Beets, Carrots and Hakurei Turnips in a Lime Vinaigrette, which I made, but used a raspberry vinaigrette marinade which I got at the cider mill store in Vermont. It turned out pretty well. The turnips didn't really have a lot of taste on their own and took on the flavor of the beets and carrots. I also sauteed the green tops of the beets and turnips with green garlic and olive oil, and that was scrumptious.

This week (2nd pickup) we got some new items - kohlrabi, garlic scrapes and dill - along with strawberries, turnips, carrots, scallions, lettuce, and spinach.

Last week I didn't know what green garlic was, and this week I didn't know what kohlrabi or garlic scrapes were. The kohlrabi we got were purple and looked like little sputniks with leaves attached. I was a little taken aback and unprepared. The farm website didn't have any recipes for kohlrabi so I turned to the world wide web for assistance. I found a recipe for roasted kohlrabi which I modified to use some of the other items from the CSA. (That vegetarian cooking class I took this spring is paying off!)

This is my made-up recipe:

2 kohlrabi, peeled and diced
4 tiny farm-fresh scallions, diced
2 garlic scrapes, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
dash salt

Mix ingredients in a bowl, transfer to oven-safe casserole dish and bake at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes (approx) after first 20 minutes.

It was absolutely delicious! I highly recommend it.

For the record, the kohlrabi was very tasty raw as well. One could easily slice it and add it to salads for a bit of extra crunch and flavor.

I also sauteed the kohlrabi leaves with turnip and beet leaves and the last of the green garlic from the previous week.

I'm not sure what to do with the dill, but Catherine said she has a potato salad recipe that uses it, and if the sun ever appears, then that would be a nice thing to have out on the deck on a warm, sunny evening.

Can't wait to see what's in our pickup tomorrow!