Don't Fear The Kohlrabi

by Deidre Woollard, Posted Jul 30th 2005 @ 1:24AM

I always call it the spaceship vegetable because the kohlrabi has a sort of otherworldly Sputnik-styled quality. It's from the Brassica family and its name means turnip cabbage in German which make it sound far less appealing than it is. The kohlrabi is really more like a tastier broccoli stalk, firm, sweet and sort of woodsy. It's also high in dietary fiber and vitamin C. I bought some last week and the question was what to do with them. Kohlrabi recipes are not the easiest thing to find, most either call for julienned raw kohlrabi done up slaw style in a vinaigrette or in a gratin. I always tend to aim for the road of greatest decadence and ever since reading about gratins in Jeffrey Steingarten's book "It Must've Been Something I Ate" I have been itching to try one. Tonight's gratin used my kohlrabi and carrots combined with milk.buttermilk, salt and pepper and a few breadcrumbs. The result was surprisingly sweet. The milk buttermilk combo tasted more like cheese and the whole thing was just as rich-tasting as I had hoped. Not hot-weather food by a long shot but a good chance to use a veggie that I am definitely not comfortable with. Any one else out there have any good kohlrabi recipes?

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Filed Under: Ingredients
Tags: dinner, vegetables