I fell into the groove of the Saturday morning routine I've been honing for more than ten years. I woke up, fed the hungry cats, who won't leave me alone until I pour food into their bowls in the following order - Apricot's bowl on the window sill (double adobe walls make for nice window ledges), Luna's bowl under the trastero, and Avi's bowl under the 1930s era Gaffer and Sattler stove.
Then I brewed my java, grabbed some canvas bags, and headed to the Grower's Market at Robinson Park in downtown Albuquerque. One of the best things about living in Barelas is the walkability - if I don't dawdle, I can be at the Grower's Market in 6 minutes. But I always dawdle, because there is always something interesting to look at that slows my pace and speeds my thoughts.
This morning I had a hankering for greens. So I purchased lettuce, Swiss chard, beets (with leaves attached) and radishes (also with leaves attached). I decided that I'd try something new, so I bought a kohlrabi. The vendor told me that I could slice the root and eat it raw for lunch, then saute the leaves for dinner.
I decided to try something a little different than what she suggested.
For lunch mija and I had hunks of baguette purchased from Carey Smoot, former owner of the marvelous Downtown Gourmet, which had the best cheese selection in all of Albuquerque, as far as I'm concerned. I'm still mourning the fact that Downtown Gourmet is closed and I cannot get my favorite French cheeses in a few minutes walk. We topped the baguette with slices of Los Poblanos Organics tomatoes (because we're still waiting on ours in the garden to ripen), and locally made provolone cheese. Then we parked ourselves in the big cane chairs on the front porch and talked about singer Amy Winehouse's demise and her hit song Rehab.
For dinner I decided to experiment with Kohlrabi. It turned out so good that I'm posting my recipe.
Kohlrabi Saute with Wild Rice blend
2 carrots, sliced
0.5 red onion, chopped
1 Kohlrabi, chopped root and leaves (peel the outer skin off, then chop)
olive oil (about 1 Tablespoon - ish???)
curry powder (about 1 Tablespoon)
honey (about 1 Tablespoon)
Make wild rice blend first (I use La Montanita's bulk mix and cook with a 3 to 1 ratio), then start chopping vegetables.
Saute onion until semi-soft. Add carrots and kohlrabi root. Saute for 5 minutes. Add a small amount of water - just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Put lid on pan and steam for about 10 minutes. Add curry, stir. Steam for 5 more minutes. Add honey. Stir. Steam for 5 minutes. Add kohrabi leaves, steam until cooked - should be dark green. Put wild rice in a bowl and top with vegetables. Salt to taste. (I added a very slight shake of salt to my bowl - just enough to add brightness to the vegetables!)
For next time, I might add a dash of tumeric and garam marsala. And if I have some green tomatoes, it might be okay to mix up a small batch of green tomato chutney as a topping...
