For the love of Produce...

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  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
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    First time I’ve ever seen Kohlrabi in real life, so obviously had to buy one…

    Don’t really want to make it into some kind of slaw but I’m struggling to come up with a different plan for it. Research tells me it most closely resembles broccoli stalks, so I may end up cutting it into small dice and adding to a lemon, mint and ricotta orzo dish.

    Does anyone have any suggestions?

    ik4hguzhxn8x.jpeg
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,608 Member
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    @BarbaraHelen2013

    I normally roast kohlrabi (ie treat it as any other root vegetable), but seeing as you were thinking about orzo you might like this
    https://stefangourmet.com/2022/07/04/turnip-or-kohlrabi-risotto-risotto-alle-rape/

    If you don't mind a salad treatment, spiralized, grated, or finely julienned it makes a great substitute for green papaya in SE Asian salads some as Som Tam.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,608 Member
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    I've been doing Cantonese stuffed eggplant and peppers. I use a combination of these two recipes.
    https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-stuffed-peppers-2/
    https://soupeduprecipes.com/hakka-stuffed-eggplant/
    jyuw0id8ghf6.jpeg
  • jkohler0377
    jkohler0377 Posts: 8 Member
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    @purplefizzy where do you find all your ideas for making veggies more fun?? I am horrible at eating more vegetables and have a spouse who doesn't like change.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,085 Member
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    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    First time I’ve ever seen Kohlrabi in real life, so obviously had to buy one…

    Don’t really want to make it into some kind of slaw but I’m struggling to come up with a different plan for it. Research tells me it most closely resembles broccoli stalks, so I may end up cutting it into small dice and adding to a lemon, mint and ricotta orzo dish.

    Does anyone have any suggestions?

    ik4hguzhxn8x.jpeg

    This is boring conceptually, but I love them raw, thin sliced. (That's how I eat broccoli stalks and cauliflower/cabbage cores often, too.)
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited October 2022
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    I love vegetables, but I also live alone and have little time, so I simplify the process. I used to make soup in a Japanese rice cooker, but now, I simply use the microwave. So, most of what I eat, with the exception of lupini beans, soybeans, sardines, lemon juice, psyllium husks and spices is here:
    oikaqk2ke1m4.jpg
    I also occasionally eat other vegetables, such as asparagus, jicama, daikon, cabbage, red beets ... but not all that often because it is too much work and annoying to prepare in the tiny kitchen of a bachelor suite.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited October 2022
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    First time I’ve ever seen Kohlrabi in real life, so obviously had to buy one…
    Kohlrabi is my favourite vegetable, by far. I compare it to broccoli stalks and find both of them eminently more satisfying than broccoli florets. That said, I don't often buy it, partly because it is quite time consuming to prepare in a tiny bachelor suite kitchen but also because of how sorry most kohlrabi looks here in Toronto, despite the relatively steep price given that it is such a simple vegetable to grow.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,085 Member
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    BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    First time I’ve ever seen Kohlrabi in real life, so obviously had to buy one…
    Kohlrabi is my favourite vegetable, by far. I compare it to broccoli stalks and find both of them eminently more satisfying than broccoli florets. That said, I don't often buy it, partly because it is quite time consuming to prepare in a tiny bachelor suite kitchen but also because of how sorry most kohlrabi looks here in Toronto, despite the relatively steep price given that it is such a simple vegetable to grow.

    Misattributed quote: That wasn't me, that was @BarbaraHelen2013. I've been eating kohlrabi for decades, though most often raw. For raw eating, it's easy to prepare.

    I'm surprised you don't get good kohlrabi in Toronto. I'm not that far away geographically over in Michigan, and it's pretty easy to find very nice kohlrabi in season at farmers markets, and decent kohlrabi most of the year at the good produce market.

    I guess borders and sub-culture may make a difference?
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Misattributed quote: That wasn't me, that was @BarbaraHelen2013. I've been eating kohlrabi for decades, though most often raw. For raw eating, it's easy to prepare.

    I'm surprised you don't get good kohlrabi in Toronto. I'm not that far away geographically over in Michigan, and it's pretty easy to find very nice kohlrabi in season at farmers markets, and decent kohlrabi most of the year at the good produce market.

    I guess borders and sub-culture may make a difference?
    Oops. I stand corrected. Sorry for that. That'll teach me, I should not try to post something when I'm getting too tired.

    It's possible that there are places to get good kohlrabi in Toronto, but I am living alone, and spending hours of "hunting" all over the place to ferret out such places, if we have them at all, is not an investment I am willing, or even able to make. I just go to my local Loblaws and if I have some time to spend, to my local No Frills, because it makes for a longer walk, which is always good and because they have two (2!) products I cannot get at Loblaws and which happen to be my absolute favourites (No Name oriental style vegetable blend, and Suraj sliced okra). They don't always have them but they very ofen do and it is one sacrifice I am willing to make if and when I can. If not, I buy something more or less similar at Loblaws.

    The reality is, I hardly ever prepare "fresh" vegetables at all. It is always a major investment in time and effort when I do that, because my kitchen is so tiny, and I have to put stuff all over the place to get it done. I essentially only eat frozen: it is convenient, always fresh at peak quality and requires essentially no time at all except for weighing the portions and the 10 minutes of time it takes for the microwave to cook them ^_^.

    I just finished breakfast: 125 ml canned crushed tomatoes, 125 g No Name frozen diced vegetable blend, one can of Brunswick spring water sardines, one tablespoon of a spice mix I make myself and two tablespoons of Pure-Lé psyllium husks. While the psyllium does add fibre that's not really why I use it, I use it because it makes the mixture less liquid, so I can eat it with a fork without making a mess at the computer ^_^. It is my standard breakfast and my favourite meal of the day. For now, anyway.


  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,608 Member
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    I roasted whole shallots in the air fryer earlier this week after trying them at a restaurant and liking them. One recipe I saw online claimed these can be successfully frozen and I can now confirm this is so. The shallots I warmed up in the microwave tonight were just as good as when we ate them freshly roasted at the beginning of the week.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,191 Member
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    Mmm. Pickled tomatoes!

    Did you prick some tiny holes in the tomato skin so the brine can get to the inside of the fruit?

    If your garden has green tomatoes, and if you need to harvest them soon, you can for sure make pickled green tomatoes. So tasty.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,191 Member
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    @acpgee

    What difference does it make in the final product when you parboil the potatoes first? I haven't tried that. I've been doing roasted potatoes by slicing into quarter-inch round pieces or quarter inch strips (French cut), tossing with oil & spices, and roasting in the convection oven for about a half hour at about 425.


    I'm thinking that if I wanted to roast small whole potatoes, the parboil might make a nice exterior texture. I think it might have even been you who turned me on to the idea of Papas Arrugadas. Those get fully cooked in salty water and then put back in the dry pan to get crispy. I wonder if parboiling whole or halved small potatoes and then roasting would be similar and also deliciously different.

    As winter approaches, I'll be looking forward to making Stuffed Mushroom Mushroom Stuffing. I'm sure I have written about it before, and maybe I'll do that again.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,608 Member
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    @mtaratoot

    I think I turned you onto papas arrugadas after I posted a picture from a restaurant serving in the Canary Islands, where the recipe is from. They would have been traditionally cooked in Atlantic sea water. We were there last February and I found them astonishingly good especially with unsalted grilled meat. You were meant to take a bite of the salty potato between bites of unseasoned BQQ'd meat.

    The classic method of English roast potatoes with the first par boiling step is to roughten up the surface when you shake them in fat (traditionally duck fat or goose fat, but butter or olive oil is nice too). Fluffing and roughening the surface of the softened potatoes causes them to hold more fat and get more crispy. The best results I have had was when I accidentally par boiled the potatoes a little too long (say 4-5 minutes) in salted water. They were super soft on the instead but crispy on the outside but not particularly attractive as they had started to crumble apart after a shake in the fat in the dry cooking vessel.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,608 Member
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    Argh. Spellchecker. If anything is incomprehensible above let me know.

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