K257: Kismet and Kindness with Food

Today’s offering was to be kohlrabi. I think it is the most sci-fi, bizarre looking food I planted this summer. I ordered heirloom seeds of this purple type. It grew really high and strong. I hoped to try several recipes like this one from Foodie Farm Girl.
4 kohlrabi bulbs with leaves
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces cultivated mushrooms (I used Baby Bellas), quartered
3 Tablespoons cream (or milk, chicken stock, olive oil, or water)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Trim the kohlrabi bulbs, peeling them if the skins seem tough. Rinse the leaves (discarding any that are yellow) pat them dry, and coarsely chop. Set aside. But the bulbs into 1-inch chunks.

2. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil, and add the kohlrabi chunks. Reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, another 1 to 2 minutes. Do not let garlic brown.

4. Add the mushrooms and the reserved kohlrabi leaves to the skillet. Cover, and cook 5 minutes. Then uncover, and cook, stirring, until all the liquid has evaporated, 3 minutes. Set the skillet aside.

5. Drain the kohlrabi chunks and place them in the bowl of a food processor. Add the mushroom mixture and all the remaining ingredients. Purée until smooth.

6. Transfer the purée to a saucepan and reheat over low heat, stirring, 2 minutes.

Or I was going to go with this Chile Chews' kohlrabi recipe with fennel, since I also grew fennel. It is one plant that did amazingly well in my raised bed.

Well, the pests decimated my kohlrabi and I was really stumped for this week’s offering as I didn’t have a backup plan. Then my new neighbor, a young landscape designer who works at the local botanical gardens drove up. He had a gift for me, an exotic, gorgeous dragon fruit. It was grown at the botanical gardens and he found it lying on the ground.

What a delicious surprise. It is just as sci-fi, bizarre looking food as the kohlrabi. I am eating it raw as it is overly ripe and ready to scoop out the inside fruit with a spoon. It is so much like kiwi in flavor.

It was kismet, not to mention really kind of my neighbor, because the ‘smell-me, upscale” markets charge over $10 for this baby. Lucky me to have such good neighbors . . . Can you imagine such a fantastic treat grown one mile from my home and delivered by a handsome young man? Pinch me.