This weather is too beautiful for words and it’s great cooking weather with these cool mornings and evenings. If you didn’t cook your way through all the pepper recipes last week here they are again in addition to some new ones below.
And don’t forget how delicious kohlrabi is raw, as a snack or tossed into any stir fry or soup. Happy cooking!
Chard Baked with Orzo, Carrots and Celery
Beef Stew with Kohlrabi and Carrots
Kohlrabi and Fennel Salad
Grilled Fennel
Miso Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas
Warm Grated Carrots with Cumin, Garlic and Sesame
Roasted Pepper Salad with Cumin, Sherry Vinegar (and Jamon Serrano)
Romaine Hearts with Red Onion and Toasted Sunflower Seeds
Chard Baked with Orzo, Carrots and Celery
–loosely inspired by Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi
This an ideal cook-with-what you have formula. Saute onions, garlic and maybe some carrots and celery; add whatever vegetable you have–in this case chard, stems and all, and add broth, lots of fresh herbs, some cheese and rice-shaped orzo pasta and bake it all until cooked and set.
Serves 4, generously
Olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced or cut in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into thin slices
2 stalks celery, including leaves, finely chopped
1 bunch chard, stems and leaves separated, stems finely sliced and leaves chopped
1 heaping cup orzo (I didn’t have quite enough orzo so topped it off with Israeli couscous)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or basil or a combination of other leafy herbs (oregano, mint, etc.)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan or really most any cheese (sharp cheddar, provolone, firm mozzarella, even crumbled goat cheese or feta would be good though quite different)
2 cups vegetable broth (made from veggie bouillon if you have it)
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, chard stems and celery and a few pinches salt and saute for 7 or so minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables have softened. Add the chard leaves and stir well and cook for another 5 minutes or so, then stir in the orzo. Cook for a few more minutes and then stir in the herbs, broth, cheese and plenty of freshly ground pepper and take off the heat. If your broth is well seasoned you probably won’t need more salt but taste and make sure.
Empty the contents of the skillet carefully into a baking dish. Cover and bake for 25 minutes, remove foil and bake or broil for another few minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the pasta is tender.
Beef Stew with Kohlrabi and Carrots
This is a hearty, warming stew. It’s even better the next day, as these kinds of dishes tend to be.
Serves 6
3/4 cup all-purpose flour with several big pinches of salt and pepper
1 1/4 pound stew beef, cut into 1-inch chunks
About 1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups thickly sliced carrots
2 medium potatoes, scrubbed cut into ~ ¾ -inch dice
1 kohlrabi, peeled and cut into ½ – ¾ -inch dice
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons tomato paste or thick tomato sauce
1/2 cup beer (medium to light style) (optional)
4 cups beef broth (more if you’d like it more soupy) or other broth or veggie bouillon broth
1 bay leaf
3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
Salt and pepper to taste
Rice or couscous and lots of chopped parsley to serve
In a large brown paper bag, place flour, salt, and pepper. Add diced beef. Close the bag. Hold it tight and shake. Set aside.
In a large Dutch oven (or big soup pot), heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add as much beef as will fit in the bottom of the pan in a single layer. Cook, browning on all sides. The beef doesn’t need to be cooked through, just browned. Once all of the beef is cooked, remove from the pan and place on a plate. Set aside.
In the same pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onions and carrots and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and heat through. Deglaze the pan with the beer, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as the beer steams.
Add bay leaf, thyme, and soy sauce. Add beef and generously cover with broth or stock. Turn heat to low and let gently simmer for 25 minutes. Add the kohlrabi and potatoes and cook for another 20 minutes or so until the vegetables are cooked through. Taste add salt, and pepper as necessary.
Serve over couscous or rice with a sprinkling of fresh parsley.
Kohlrabi and Fennel Salad
This salad is one of my favorite ways to use kohlrabi. The original calls for cabbage too but I’ve substituted fennel (albeit not as much) and while a different twist, is very good as well.
The original recipe calls for dried sour cherries and I’ve always used golden raisins instead.
2 medium or 1 large kohlrabi, peeled and cut into matchsticks about 2 inches long and 1/8 – ¼ inch wide
2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, halved or quartered and sliced as thinly as you can
1 small bunch dill, roughly chopped
1 cup golden raisins (see headnote)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced or mashed with some salt on a cutting board with the side of a chef’s knife into a paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Put all ingredients in the large mixing bowl and mix everything together really well. Use your hands if you’d like. Let sit for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. You need quite a bit of salt to counteract the lemon.
Grilled Fennel
This is a simple delicious way to serve fennel, and lots of it, if you have quite a bit. You can dip the grilled wedges in aioli or just enjoy as is.
Serves 2-3
Heat grill or preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2 medium-large heads fennel, trimmed and quartered lengthwise and each quarter cut in half again so you have 8 wedges per head (the core should keep the wedges from falling apart)
Dressing:
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 large piece aluminum foil
Mix the dressing ingredients in the bottom of a large bowl. Toss the fennel wedges in the vinaigrette and let marinate for a few minutes. Empty the contents of the bowl onto the foil and turn the edges of the fowl up a bit to create a “dish” to contain the fennel. Place on a hot grill (or in a hot oven) and grill until tender and browning around the edges.
Miso Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas (or w/out chickpeas)
–inspired by Food52
This is a CSA Heavy Hitter, recipe that is delicious with a great variety of vegetables and handy to turn to when you have a random assortment of things that need using up. This is delicious with kohlrabi, celery root, winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, turnips and pretty much any other vegetable that takes well to roasting. The quantity and combination of vegetables is completely up to you and you can easily scale the below recipe up or down.
I particularly like to add chickpeas to the vegetables, adding another dimension and texture. With a simple green salad and maybe a fried egg this is my idea of a perfect meal.
About 2 lbs kohlrabi and carrots, trimmed, scrubbed and/or peeled and cut into about 1-inch pieces
1 cup drained chickpeas (optional but very good)
2 tablespoons miso (I typically use yellow or red–red being a bit stronger but use any kind you have on hand)
1 tablespoon soy sauce or Tamari
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
2 tablespoons oil of choice
Chopped cilantro or parsley to finish (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put the vegetables and chickpeas in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients, except the optional herbs, and drizzle over vegetables and chickpeas. Toss well and spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, tossing the mixture occasionally, for about 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are very tender and caramelizing around the edges. Serve topped with herbs, if you’d like or with a green salad and/or fried or poached eggs.
Warm Grated Carrots with Cumin, Garlic and Sesame
I tossed this dish together for lunch one day. It took about 7 minutes to make and is a keeper in our household. I happened to have black sesame seeds, which were extra pretty, but by all means use regular ones if that’s what you have.
Serves 2-3
4 cups grated carrots (grated on large holes of a box grater)
1 heaping teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds (see headnote)
2 cloves garlic, slivered
2 tablespoons olive oil
Dressing:
¼ cup Greek yogurt (whole milk)
Juice from half a lemon (or more to taste—you want it nice and tart to counter the sweetness of the carrots)
½ teaspoon harissa, more to taste
2 tablespoons good olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the seeds and garlic and stir to coat with oil and let cook for about 1 minute. The seeds will start popping and get very fragrant. Don’t let the seeds or garlic burn. Add the grated carrots and stir well. Cook, stirring almost constantly for about 2-3 minutes just to soften the carrot.
Mix the dressing ingredients, with the exception of the cilantro together well. You want it to be quite thin so add a little water if it’s too thick.
Serve the warm carrots with a generous drizzle of the dressing and cilantro, if using.
Roasted Pepper Salad with Cumin, Sherry Vinegar (and Serrano Ham)
This is a Spanish-style composed salad. I try to make it at least once a year when peppers are abundant and varied in the early fall. It’s a beautiful, even elegant dish and worth all the roasting and peeling time. You can skip the Serrano ham or prosciutto and it will be still be delicious
I once transported a gorgeous, beautifully composed platter of it in a box on my bike to a friends’ house for dinner. I got it there perfectly and then dropped the box as I unloaded it. The platter luckily stayed in tact but the salad was a mess. I was furious but ultimately it tasted just as good as neatly composed. And for some reason I don’t have a single good photograph of it!
Serves 4-6
8 peppers, mixture of sweet peppers broiled until blackened and blistered and seeded and peeled and coarsely chopped
4 – 5 roma or other sauce-type tomatoes, quartered, sprinkled with salt and roasted in a very hot (450~) oven until soft and browning around the edges, about 15 minutes
1/4 of a medium red onion, sliced as thinly as you can
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 hardboiled eggs, finely chopped
Salt
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons sherry or champagne or red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
8-10 slices Jamon Serrano or Prosciutto
Arrange the roasted peppers and tomatoes on a platter. Scatter over the slivered onions and sprinkle the hardboiled eggs over the vegetables.
In a small bowl mix the cumin, salt, olive oil, pepper, garlic and vinegar. Drizzle the dressing over everything and top with the slices of jamon. Enjoy with some good bread.
Romaine Hearts with Red Onion and Toasted Sunflower Seeds
This is a version of my favorite salad at Noble Rot, a restaurant I worked at at its inception. I believe it’s still on the menu, 13 years later. Noble Rot uses butter lettuce but I think the romaine hearts this week would be perfect.
To make this more robust and Caesar-like add some croutons.
Serves 4
6 cups romaine hearts, washed, dried and chopped
¼ of a red onion, sliced as thinly as you can (more or less depending on how much like onion in your salad)
1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds
Dressing:
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1 ½ tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
3-4 tablespoons good olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a bowl or shake in a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
Put the lettuce, onions and seeds in a bowl and pour dressing over and toss well.