Karin's Week Seventeen Recipe: Kohlrabi Remoulade

This recipe is a result of still having 1/2 of my Giant Kohlrabi leftover from last week's recipe. Two people cannot eat a 3lb kohlrabi in a single sitting.  Looking around for a recipe that had ingredients that I had on hand, I found this by using SimplyRecipes.com. As I had already had on-hand the ingredients for making guacamole, I thought that this might be an interesting recipe to try. Kohlrabi has the flavor of a cross between cabbage and broccoli, with a bit of radish thrown in. It's nice and firm, so once you get it peeled, it's very easy to chop or grate, etc.

Kohlrabi Remoulade

For the remoulade:
2 small-ish, kohlrabi, thickly peeled
2 heaped tablespoons of good quality mayonnaise (see below)
3 fat green olives, pitted and finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
Small palmful of hazelnuts, roasted, cooled and chopped
2 teaspoons of grain mustard
Sea salt and pepper

What I did was grate the half kohlrabi I had left on the large holes of a box grater, which made it about 2x the amount called for in the recipe. So I doubled the mayo, garlic, and mustard, and omitted the olives and hazelnuts. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

For the guacamole:
2 ripe but firm large Hass avocado
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
1 heaping tsp of sweet chilli sauce
Cayenne pepper, to taste
1.5 tomatoes chopped
juice of 1 ½ lemons

Handful of leaves (arugula, spinach, whatever you like)


Smash the avocados in a small bowl or molcajete*. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the greens) in order to the bowl, mixing thoroughly after each addition. You could also use your own guacamole recipe.


To serve: Place some greens on the plate, top with a mound of guacamole, then a mound of the remoulade.
 

*Using the molcajete always reminds me of visiting Mexico or one of the other Latin American countries. I picked mine up on a trip to Juarez from a small housewares store in the city center - a true molcajete is made of volcanic stone. Now that it is summer, I can use it to make sauces from all kinds of fresh veggies, so you may be seeing more of this nifty device.

Verdict on this was very delicious, and kohlrabi is much better raw than cooked. I think I will be making this again, albeit with a much smaller kohlrabi to start with. Nate's point was, anything that is 50% guacamole has to be delicious. The remoulade gave it more of a salad flair, and we ate it alongside brats on the grill. I think this would make a great summer picnic dish, but I might use a food processor for all the chopping/grating.

Guest Recipe from Linda: Scallop/Pear/Blue Cheese/Pecan Salad

The number of extra recipes and guest recipes on this blog, not to mention our foreign blog correspondant, Karin, just prove how important a good meal is to everyone. Linda sends along this recipe with her blessings.

Scallop/Pear/Blue Cheese/Pecan Salad

2-4 handfuls of salad greens

1 pear, diced

2-4 T blue cheese crumbles

1/4 c whole pecans

Balsamic vinegar

Extra-virgin olive oil

8-10 diver scallops (the big kind, not the little bay scallops)

2-3 T butter

Salt & pepper to taste

Makes two meal-sized salads.

While you're arranging the salad, pan-sear the scallops in 2-3 T of butter on medium heat. Salt & pepper to taste.

Rinse and dry the greens. You can use chopped Romaine (that's what I had) but mixed spring greens would be better. Use more or less depending on how much you have and how hungry you are. Arranges the greens on plates. Scatter the diced pear and blue cheese over the greens. Arrange the whole pecans around the edge of the greens. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil over all.

Note: the ripeness of the pear is key to this recipe. It can't be all mushy.

If you are adverse [Editor's note: me] or allergic to seafood, this makes a delicious side-salad without the scallops. You could also substitute grilled chicken breasts cut into strips for the scallops.

I will definitely be making this again. I used Greek EVOO and balsamic vinegar that I got at The Oilery in Door County. (Thank you, Tricia!) I served the salad with Door Country Peninsula Reisling that I purchased on the same trip. The pairing was exceptional. The salad really brought out the pear tones in the wine.

Chris's Week Four Recipe: Simple Fruit Salad

I like fruit salad, but I'm not a big fan of creamy fruit salad, which seems to be all the rage in Minnesota. So for lunch with my parents today, I whipped up a simple fruit salad which could be made in almost endless variation. The trick is to use either citrus, syrup, or both to keep fruit like apples and bananas from turning brown.

Simple Fruit Salad

1/2 c chopped walnuts

1-15 oz can mandarin oranges in light syrup

2 medium bananas, sliced

1 honeycrisp apple, chopped

1 T lemon juice.

Shredded coconut (optional)

Toss all the ingredients together, making sure the syrup and lemon juice coat everything well. Before serving, drain out the liquid. Top with shredded coconut if you like.

Would I make this recipe again? You betcha! There was some discussion at the table about the quantity of walnuts. Mom would have used 1/4 cup, but Dad and I agree there can never be too many nuts. That just about sums up Dad and me.