More Notes From Nikki-Sufferin' Succotash and Pan-Roasted Romano Beans

Sufferin' Succotash
Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Low humidity, light breeze, temps in the 80s. Perfect. I decided to fire up the grill (last week's oppressive heat kept me from my favorite summertime culinary activity) . We grilled Italian chicken sausages to house in potato buns with plenty of dijon mustard. Yum! The following succotash served as the perfect accompaniment to this main course. A delightful dish for a delightful summer evening. I hope you enjoy it too!
P.S. Don't forget, Red Haven Farm offers some terrific tasting sausages. Had I planned ahead, that's what would have been nestled in our buns. ;-)

Ingredients

2 pints grape/cherry tomatoes, halved (the lovely medley of little tomatoes from our Inverbrook share this week will work perfectly if you still have them around. Ours were eaten on the way home from the farm. :-})

8 oz. frozen and thawed (or fresh) shelled edamame

8 oz. fresh or frozen corn kernels thawed (I used frozen. I know, for shame! Especially this time of year. I bought fresh from a local orchard and was so disappointed with the flavor that I actually composted it. This is the 2nd time this has happened to me. Is anyone else having this issue with corn this year? Strange.)

2 small-medium pattypan squash, diced

2 small-medium eggplant, diced (I used one white and one purple from our Inverbrook share this week)

Handful of chopped chives

Handful of fresh chopped basil (I used the tiny leaves from our bush basil plant)

2-3 T extra virgin olive oil

1 -2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

Sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

Splash of balsamic vinegar


1. Saute the garlic, squash, and eggplant in olive oil over medium heat until cooked through and browned a bit here and there.
2. Toss in the edamame and corn and continue sauteing until heated through.
3. Turn off the heat, add in the sea salt, pepper, chives, basil, balsamic vinegar, and tomatoes. Fold gently to incorporate.
4. Taste and adjust to your liking.
5. Serve and enjoy!

This will serve 6-8 generously as a side dish. Feel free to cut the recipe in half.


Pan-Roasted Romanos with Tomatoes, Lemon, Parsley, and Feta
One of my favorite veggie combinations is green beans and tomatoes. Reminds me of summer, my favorite season. Throw a squeeze of lemon in there, some herbs, and cheese, and WAH-LA... heaven. We enjoyed the following dish with a side of grilled chicken. I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients

2-3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-sized sweet onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 quarts romano beans, trimmed
A couple of good squeezes of lemon
4 medium tomatoes, cored and diced
Generous handful of chopped parsley leaves
Crumbled feta (I used my absolute fave, Highland Farm's sheep feta)
Sea Salt
Fresh ground pepper

1. Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until the onions are softened a bit.
2. Toss in the beans, cover, shake, and simmer, shaking occasionally until the beans a just slightly tender.
3. Add the tomatoes, stirring to incorporate.
4. Allow the sauce to simmer covered again for just a few more minutes. You don't want the beans to lose their snap.
5. Kill the heat, add in the lemon juice, parsley, sea salt, and pepper.
6. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
7. Plate and top with feta and a bit more ground pepper.
8. Serve and enjoy.

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Notes from Nikki-Roasted Purple Potatoes with Lemon Miso Dressing

Roasted Purple Majesty Potatoes with Lemon Miso Dressing and Fresh Mint Warning: this recipe was a total experiment. It was well received by my family (even my kids), and I really liked it too, but it is certainly an odd menagerie of ingredients that I would normally not put together. I was in a bold mood, I guess. ;-) Anyway, I hope you like it. I think the dressing would pair excellently with green beans and tomatoes as well, or a combo of all three. It's a fun little dressing. I encourage you to experiment. Enjoy!

Ingredients

About 2 lbs. purple majesty potatoes (or other new potatoes), halved or quartered (quarter the larger ones, half the smaller ones)
3-4 T extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Juice of 1 lemon
2 T white miso
2 T honey (I used raw, local honey... Walt Broughton's Swarmbustin')

Handful of chopped fresh mint leaves


1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Drizzle the olive oil onto a roasting pan, and spread the potatoes out on top.
3. Sprinkle sea salt and pepper atop the potatoes.
4. Shake the pan a bit, and roast until the potatoes are firm tender (about 25-30 minutes or so).
5. While the potatoes are roasting, blend the lemon juice, miso, and honey together either by hand or in a food processor.
6. Allow the potatoes to cool a bit, toss them with the dressing and the mint, and serve.

Serves 4 as a side dish

Extra Herby "Green Goddess" Dip for Crudites
It has been so hot that I have been leery of the kitchen. I decided that a good dip was in order to plunge the deliciously succulent carrots from our Inverbrook share into. Incidentally, we ended up using the leftover dip for cucumbers as well. Any veggies would be happy to take the plunge, really. It would also work well as a dressing for salad. I hope you enjoy this twist on a classic as much as we did.

Ingredients

Handful of fresh basil leaves
Small handful of fresh tarragon leaves
Handful of fresh chopped chives
Hefty squeeze or two of lemon juice (plus a bit o' zest if you want)
1 garlic chive (our last from late spring), chopped, or 1 small clove of garlic smashed
1-2 tsp dijon mustard
3-4 T sour cream
1-2 T mayonaise
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

1. Toss all the ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth.
2. Taste and adjust to your liking.
3. Serve with crudites of your choice and enjoy!

This Week's Share-Purple Carrots and White Cucumbers

I love unusual vegetables, especially if they are colorful and delicious. The diversity of shape, color and taste in summer vegetables like squash, cucumbers, eggplant and tomatoes--is simply amazing. This week's share highlights that fact with lots of color (especially purple) and flavor.

This Week's Share:
New Potatoes (Purple Majesty, Chieftain, and Yukon Gold)
Cucumbers-which depending on your pick up day include salt and pepper (white pickler), Poona Keera (brownish Indian cucumber), Snake Melon (Armenian cucumber), and Lemon Cucumber
String Beans (Romano, Provider, and Haricot Vert)
Purple Carrots
Eggplant
Summer Squash
Tomatillos
Tomatoes

This week looks like it is once again going to be very hot. Below are two recipe links for cool salads, perfect for summer weather.

Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad from Smitten Kitchen

Lemony Green Bean Salad with Feta from Food52

Speaking of Feta--don't forget to try the delicious Highland Farm Sheep Dairy cheeses and yogurt. And since I am mentioning other farm products available at Inverbrook, the summer vegetables in this week's share pair exceedingly well with grilled sausage--which you can order from Red Haven Farm to be dropped off at Inverbrook. Go to the Inverbrook website to download an order form.

Staying Cool-Recipe Ideas for this Summer Heat

Whew!!!! Its not been a fun week in the fields, the heat has been pretty brutal. I guess the reward is getting to turn the summer produce into something delicious that can also cool you off. Smoothies seem particularly popular as of late. Fresh Basil posted this great link to smoothies from the Mother Nature Network. Last night I decided to put together my own version of a vegetable smoothie. I combined some spices, salt, cucumbers and tomatoes in the blender--hit the puree button--then added a medley of chopped and sweated vegetables that included about 4 baby squash, an onion and a couple of tomatillos--I then gave the veggies a quick chop in blender, to produce a colorful and delicious gazpacho type drink/soup. Of course I was too tired and hungry to think out recording quantities to provide a step by step recipe guide for you--but I did find this link to a cold summer vegetable soup.

Today I moved on to a sweet smoothie made with the delicious Highland Farm sheep yogurt available at the farm, a handful of frozen blueberries, a banana, some chopped carrots, mint and ginger. It was refreshing and full of antioxidants--perfect for today's heat. Along with smoothies and lassis, another recipe trend for the heat of summer is unconventional ice pops--the latest issue of Fine Cooking Magazine has this link on ice pop recipes. And here is another great link for 50 delicious and creative ice pop ideas. Pending some disaster related to plant disease or insects--your share over the next couple of weeks should include more cucumbers and eventually melons, which are a little more conducive to the above links. In the meantime here is a link to veggie ice pops; stay cool and enjoy your share.

Notes from Nikki-Roasted Summer Squash, Eggplant, and Tomato Rotelli

Roasted Summer Squash, Eggplant, and Tomato Rotelli

Wow. What a beautiful bounty of delicious summer goodness we walked away with this week from the Inverbrook Distribution Shed. Even in this wretched heat, I decided to roast the summer squash, eggplant, and tomatoes to create a saucy medley for rotelli pasta. It was a perfect summer meal! I hope you enjoy it too.

Ingredients

2 small-medium pattypan squash, halved and sliced (about 1/4", no need to be fussy)
2 small-medium yellow crook-neck squash (I used the zephyr from this week's share), sliced (about 1/4 ")
2 small-medium eggplant, halved and sliced (I used one small, round white and one small, round purple (Indian variety?) from this week's share)
8-10 small-medium tomatoes, cored and halved or quartered
4-6 T extra virgin olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 T balsamic vinegar
Generous handful of chopped basil (I used a combination of purple and lemon basil)
1.5 lbs. rotelli
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated or shredded Parmigiano-Regianno


1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
3. Prepare two roasting pans by drizzling the bottoms of both with about 2-3 T of olive oil.
4. Spread the summer squash and eggplant out onto one of the pans and sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, and half of the minced garlic. Toss to coat.
5. Spread the tomatoes out onto the other pan, and do the same.
6. Roast the vegetable in the oven until cooked through and starting to brown, about 20-25 minutes (the tomatoes will break down quite a bit and will create a sauce of sorts).
7. While the vegetables are roasting, cook the pasta al dente, drain, and set aside.
8. Toss the pasta with the roasted tomatoes, squash, eggplant, and basil, and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar.
9. Add in more sea salt and pepper to taste.
10. Top with plenty of Parmigiano-Regianno and serve.

Serves 6-8 as a main course

This Week's Share-Green Beans, Tomatoes, and Summer Squash

Wow, is it hot this week. Not the kind of weather that inspires a whole lot of cooking. My advice for this week's share is to cook the various vegetables on the grill or all at once inside-store cooked in your refrigerator, and then use the ingredients to create delicious farm fresh cold salads. The tomatoes of course, do not need to be cooked.

This week's share includes:
New Potatoes (yukon gold, red and purple majesty)
Carrots
Tomatoes
Green Beans (roma, haricot vert and provider)
Summer Squash (zephyr and patti pan)
Eggplant
Herbs (mint and parsley)



Here a some recipe ideas links for this week's share

Grilled Sausage and Summer Squash (don't forget to place your order with Red Haven Farm)

Ten 10 Minute Tomato Recipes

Salad Nicoise

Enjoy your share, stay cool, and keep your fingers crossed for some rain.

Notes From Nikki-Eggplant Medley, Roasted Beets/Carrots, and Smashed Pink Potatoes

Here are three great recipes from Nikki. If you are planning on feeding a bigger group, and you don't have time to stockpile your share contents like Nikki, I encourage you to come on out to the Friday Farmstand (2-7PM). I will have many of this week's share items available for purchase, along with cherry tomatoes and bouquets of flowers. Perfect for weekend entertaining. Enjoy Nikki's delicious recipe creations.

Roasted Eggplant Medley with Tomatoes, Lemon Basil, and Feta
I don't know about you, but I tend to stock-pile parts of our Inverbrook share until I have enough of an ingredient to create a dish that will feed my family. This has been the case over the last two weeks with eggplant. Last week I came away from the shed with just two tiny purple and white streaked eggplant, which I promptly put in a plastic bag and stored in the crisper (eggplant can be saved for quite a while this way). This week, I chose a couple with more girth, one white, and one a pale green. Along with the four small yellow tomatoes we came away with on Monday, I used this eggplant medley to produce the following dish. It made a fabulous lunch! Two of my kids and I shared it. I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients

4 small eggplant (preferably of different varieties), trimmed and sliced about 1/4" (no need to be overly-precise)
4 small tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 garlic scapes, chopped (or garlic cloves, minced)
3-4 T extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Splash of balsamic vinegar (1-2 T)
Small handful of finely chopped lemon basil (any basil will do... lemon is my favorite for brightening a roasted dish like this)
Handful of crumbled feta cheese (we used Highland Farm's sheep feta, my absolute favorite feta on earth)

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Drizzle the bottom of a roasting pan with the olive oil, and add the eggplant slices, tomatoes, garlic, sea salt, and pepper. Toss a bit, and spread out evenly so that you have one layer.
3. Roast in the oven for about 25-30 minutes, turning the eggplant slices about halfway through. Roast until the eggplant is cooked through. The tomatoes will be super-roasted and will fall apart creating a sauce of sorts.
4. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, fold in the basil, and turn out onto a plate (make sure to get all the yummy juices off the pan too).
5. Top with the feta and a bit more fresh ground pepper if desired.
6. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 4


I am a sucker for banana fingerling potatoes, and, until Monday, I have overlooked the other potato offerings when picking up our Inverbrook share. This week, I decided to give the pink-flesh potatoes a try. What a gorgeous treat this turned out to be! The following recipe resulted in a beautiful array of pink and green that tasted as good as it looked. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients

2 bunches of perpetual spinach (or other cooking greens), tough stems removed, chopped
2-3 cloves minced raw garlic (cured cloves are fine too, or use up any garlic scapes you may have lying in the bottom of your crisper... we still have a couple, they seem to last forever)
Glug of extra-virgin olive oil
Approximately 2 lbs. new potatoes (as noted above, we used pink-fleshed potatoes, but any new potatoes will do), scrubbed if needed
1/2-1 stick of butter
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
1-2 C milk

1. Boil the potatoes until tender.
2. While the potatoes are boiling, saute the garlic and spinach in olive oil until the spinach is just wilted.
3. Drain the potatoes, add the butter, sea salt, pepper, and milk (start with 1 C) to the pot, and smash the mixture together with a potato masher.
4. Once the potatoes are roughly mashed, stir the mixture together with a spoon, adding more milk (if necessary) to get the consistency you prefer.
5. Fold in the sauteed spinach and garlic.
6. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
7. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 6-8 as a side dish


Roasted Baby Carrots and Beets with Honey Dill Vinaigrette
They may be tiny, but the baby carrots and beets from our Inverbrook share pack a serious punch. They are full of delicious, complex flavor. Roasting them makes the flavor even more intense. I hope you enjoy this simple recipe that is as beautiful as it is delicious!

Ingredients

Approximately 20 or so baby carrots, tops removed
Approximately 10 or so baby beets, greens removed
2-3 T extra virgin olive oil

Handful of dill (no thick stems, we still had some leftover in the crisper from last week's share)
3-4 T oilve oil
2 T white wine vinegar
1-2 T honey
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Drizzle two small roasting pans with a tablespoon or so of olive oil.
3. Lay the beets on one roasting pan, and the carrots on the other, shake the pans back and forth a bit to coat, and tent both pans with foil.
4. While the carrots and beets are roasting, process the dill, olive oil, vinegar, honey, sea salt, and pepper in a food processor until smooth and emulsified (you can also do this by hand with a wire whisk, just finely chop the dill first).
5. Roast the beets and carrots until firm tender. (They will likely be done at different times.)
6. When cool enough to handle, slip the skins off the beets and discard them.
7. Toss the beets, carrots, and as much of the dressing as desired together, turn out onto a plate, and serve. (Any remaining dressing will save nicely in an airtight container in the fridge.)
8. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 3-4 as a side dish

This Week's Share--More Potatoes, Eggplant, and the first of the Tomatoes

This is one of those week's where Monday's share will not match Wednesday's share. The green beans are not quite ready today, but should be harvestable on Wednesday.


This week's share includes:
Potatoes--both fingerlings and regular new potatoes
The First of the Tomatoes
Eggplant (or Summer Squash if are not an eggplant fan)
Baby Beets (on Monday) and Green Beans (on Wednesday)
Carrots
Herbs

Next week (if we get a little rain) the share should include larger quantities of all of the summer crops like squash, beans, eggplant and tomatoes--in the meantime I hope you enjoy a little taste (and color) of summer.

Speaking of summer vegetables the latest issue of fine cooking arrived with a great profile on the various types of eggplant.Click hear for the Eggplant explanation from Fine Coking Magazine

I realize that those who are new to the CSA might not be so familiar with those tiny little knobby potatoes known as fingerlings. They are one of my favorites, in fact Nikki's potato salad recipe from last week was made with the fingerlings. The tender fingerlings cook relatively fast; they are great pan roasted or cooked on the grill. Here is a great meal idea from the My Life Runs on Food Blog that pairs salmon with green beans and fingerling potatoes. The herb yogurt sauce is a perfect use for the Highland Farm sheep yogurt. One more note, all the potatoes at this time should be considered "new potatoes" and there is no need to peal them. A little scrubbing will remove the papery outer skin.

Enjoy the share. Enjoy the summer. If you are craving more of the summer vegetables be sure to stop by the farm stand on Friday 2-7PM. Next week I will have pick your own cherry tomatoes, this week you can purchase them from the farmstand.

This Week's Share-Potatoes and Eggplant (Notes from Nikki)

This week's share includes the beginning of summer staples like potatoes and eggplant, a welcome change from all the green, I am sure. This will be the last week for lettuce for a while. It has got quite a bit to it, luckily Nikki has provide a great recipe for it that can be found at the end of this post.

This Week's Share:
Potatoes
Eggplant
Small Bag of Lettuce
Cooking Greens (Chard or Perpetual Spinach)
Carrots
Beets
Herbs (mint, cilantro, and dill)

Notes From Nikki--Three Great Recipes Below:

Summer Picnic Potato Salad

Upon my arrival to pick up our Inverbrook Farm share yesterday, I was pleased to discover that two of the most important ingredients I needed to make the potato salad I was planning on bringing to a 4th of July potluck were right there in the distribution shed: potatoes and dill. Perfect! This salad is best served at room temperature for full flavor, but saves nicely in the fridge and can be eaten cold too. Enjoy!


Ingredients
2-3 lbs. new potatoes, scrubbed, boiled until tender, drained, cooled (enough to handle), and halved or quartered depending on size (I used the banana fingerlings from this week's share)
8 oz. sour cream
4 oz. mayonaise
1-2 T dijon mustard
3 scallions, trimmed and chopped (white and green parts)
6 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
2 T capers
Handful chopped dill leaves plus more for garnish (you can also use parsley for garnish, and/or even add some chopped parsley to the mix)
4 oz. bacon, fried, drained, and broken into smallish pieces (optional)
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

1. Combine the sour cream, mayo, and mustard, and mix with the potatoes, smashing up some of the potatoes in the process. Add more sour cream or mayo if the mixture is too thick. (It's okay if the mixture is warm. This actually helps to bring out the flavor. It will cool to room temp by the time you're ready to serve it.)
2. Fold in the scallions, celery, capers, dill, salt, pepper, and bacon (if using).
3. Taste and adjust to your liking.
4. Serve and enjoy.

Serves 6-8 as a side dish (can be doubled)




















Whole Wheat Rigatoni with Sauteed Shallots, Fresh Garlic, Chard, and Exotic Mushrooms
Admittedly, this dish is a bit heavy for this time of year, but I had a hankering for something substantial after eating so many salads. :-) You could skip the cream and use the parmesan as a garnish, rather than incorporating both ingredients into the dish to create a sauce, for a lighter version. Either way, it is sure to please. The chard can be swapped out for spinach, kale, or any other cooking greens you have on hand. The bacon is totally optional (I've been on a bacon kick lately); again, for a lighter version, just omit it. However you decide to prepare the dish, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T butter (optional, just add a tad more olive oil if you decided to omit the butter, I was going for decadence ;-))
2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced (or trimmed and chopped garlic scapes if you still have some on hand)
6 small shallots, sliced
Red pepper flakes
2 bunches chard, thick stems removed, torn or chopped
10-12 oz. exotic mushrooms (I used a combo of local crimini, shitake, and oyster), roughly chopped
1-1.5 lbs. whole wheat rigatoni (penne or rotelli will work too; you can also use a non-whole wheat version, I just love the nutty flavor that the whole wheat versions produce)
Handful or two of freshly grated or shredded Parmigiano Reggiano (plus more for topping)
1 C half-and-half or cream
Sea salt
8 oz. bacon, minced, sauteed until crispy, and drained (optional)
Fresh ground pepper

1. Put on a large pot of water to boil the pasta in.
2. While you are waiting for the pasta water to boil, saute the shallots, garlic, and pepper flakes in the butter and olive oil over medium heat until fragrant and softened.
3. Add the chard to the pan and continue sauteing until it starts to wilt.
4. Add in the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft, and the chard is completely wilted.
5. Once your water is boiling, add in the pasta along with some sea salt, and cook until al dente, reserving about 1/2 C of the cooking water for the sauce.
6. Add 1/2 C pasta water to the chard/mushroom mix, plus the half-and-half (or cream), and bring to a simmer.
7. Add in the parmesan, stirring to incorporate.
8. Season with sea salt, taste, and adjust to your liking.
9. Toss the pasta with the sauce, divide among plates, top each plate with a sprinkling of parmesan, some of the bacon (if using), and some fresh ground pepper.
10. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 6-8
Honey Dijon Salad with Pan-Roasted Chicken Tenders
Claire warned us, the salad greens this week have a bit of a bite. :-] Actually, they create the perfect foundation for this salad that sports a simple honey-dijon dressing and pan-roasted, boneless, skinless chicken tenders. Very light and flavorful. A perfect meal on a hot summer night. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
1-2 T dijon mustard
1-2 T honey
2 T white wine vinegar
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
8-10 oz. baby lettuce (I used two bags from our Inverbrook share)
1 lb.-2 lbs. chicken tenders
Splash of olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

1. Put the olive oil, mustard, honey, vinegar, sea salt, and pepper in a food processor and process until smooth and emulsified (you can also do this by hand with a wire whisk). Taste and adjust to your liking.
2. Season the chicken tenders with sea salt and pepper, and pan-roast in olive oil until browned on both sides and cooked through.
3. Toss the dressing with the salad greens, divide among plates, place 2-3 chicken tenders on top of each, drizzle with a bit more dressing, top with fresh ground pepper, and serve.

Serves 4-6

Medicinal Herb Walks at Inverbrook Farm

We are pleased to announce two upcoming medicinal herb walks/workshops here at Inverbrook Farm. The first will talk place this coming Saturday, July 9th from 10AM until 1PM. The walk will focus on the plants in the Inverbrook Farm Medicinal Herb garden and be led by its creator Katherine Broadbent and garden consultant nurse/herbalist Donna Merrill. Click here to view pictures from a previous herb walk which was paired with a Green Drinks gathering at the farm.

Saturday July 9th Medicinal Herb Walk:
-walk 10-12, with picnic lunch 12-1 where people can chat and eat and ask Donna any other questions they have.
-folks should bring water, lunch, bug spray, sunscreen
-rain date Sunday July 10, same time
-Email Katherine at msmoon8@hotmail.com to register.

The next medicinal herb walk will be a weed walk on Saturday, August 6th 10-1:00(Sunday the 7th rain date).

Notes from Nikki-Sauteed Kohlrabi (and Fridays at the Farm)

The syncrinisity that exists in life never ceases to amaze me. This morning I started off the day picking blueberries for the Friday Farmstand (by next year the blueberries should be part of the CSA share, I just have to fence off the plot to keep the deer out). The fact that I now have a "friday at the farm" enterprise and picking blueberries made me think of the wonderful short film Fridays at the Farm by Rich Power Hoffman. The film features Red Hill CSA and its farmers Chris and Amy. In the film there is a little song about blueberries and this song always seems to pop into my head whenever picking blueberries. Anyway, Nikki sent along this great recipe for cooked kohlrabi today; a recipe she got from the very same Chris of Red Hill CSA. Enjoy the recipe and if you have a spare twenty minutes check out the movie.

Fridays at the Farm from Spring Garden Pictures on Vimeo.

Sauteed Kohlrabi with Cracked Black Pepper and Parmigiano Reggiano
Truth be told, until now, I have never liked kohlrabi. It wasn't for not trying. Honestly. I tried it shaved in a salad, diced in a stir-fry, and pureed in a soup. Just didn't do it for me. Needless to say, the kohlrabi from our Inverbrook Farm share has been collecting in the crisper in our fridge, untouched. It wouldn't even go bad so I could just compost it. ;-) I decided I would have to befriend it... eventually. As luck would have it, a good friend and coworker of mine (and former farmer himself), Chris McNichol, told me just the other day that he loves the stuff. Upon hearing this, I demanded he immediately tell me his favorite way to prepare it. I didn't even have to write down the recipe. It's that simple. And so delicious! I know, I can't believe I just referred to kohlrabi as delicious. Who knew?! Thanks, Chris! I hope you all enjoy it too.

Ingredients

6 small kohlrabi bulbs, trimmed, peeled, and diced (roughly chopped works too)
Glug of extra-virgin olive oil
Plenty of fresh cracked black pepper
A bit o' sea salt
Freshly grated or shredded Parmigiano Reggiano
A few basil leaves for garnish (I used lemon basil)

1. Saute the kohlrabi in olive oil until fairly tender and browned on all sides.
2. Season with sea salt and pepper.
3. Turn out onto a plate, top with the cheese, more pepper (if desired), and the basil.
4. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 1-2 as a side dish