Roasted Kohlrabi

Roasted what? Kohlrabi is a vegetable that is part of the cabbage family and closely resembles a turnip. You can eat kohlrabi raw in a salad or cook it. When you dice it up and roast it, like I do here, it is very similar to a potato, and can substitute for your starches as a simple side dish. Kohlrabi is another one of those blessings that I have discovered as part of my crop share. I have never heard of it before now, but I am sure it will be a main stay in my house. With everyone always looking to watch their potatoes and carbs, kohlrabi is an easy side dish to any weeknight meal.

Recipe yields 4 servings

Ingredients
3-4 small kohlrabi (green or purple)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425F degrees. If your kohlrabi came with the stems and leaves still attached (like mine in the picture above) you can cut those off and reserve them. You can cook the leaves just as you would collards or kale. Cut off both ends of the kohlrabi and peel them. You can choose to leave the outer leaves on, but they can be tough, so I prefer to remove them.

Once peeled, dice the kohlrabi and add to a bowl. Toss with the olive oil and garlic salt until all pieces are nicely coated.

Spread out the kohlrabi onto a baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook for 18-20 minutes and then shake up the pan to get all sides browned and crisp. Cook for an additional 5-8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place in a serving dish. Just before serving, drizzle with the vinegar and give it a final toss. Enjoy!

Golden Earthworm Organic Farm CSA

After reading the title of this post, many of you are probably wondering what CSA is. Well CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Members of a CSA will sponsor local farmers during the winter and are rewarded with a share of the farmer's crop through the spring, summer and fall. This year, I joined the Golden Earthworm Organic Farm's CSA program for the first time off a recommendation from a friend. Local, fresh and organic produce every week, I can't imagine anything more exciting for a food blogger. My crop share began on June 4th, and I will receive a bundle of produce every Tuesday from my local pick-up location for the next 26 weeks. Week one started off with the largest head of romaine I have ever seen, a big bunch of red kale, a bunch of arugula that was so fresh just the smell of it was delicious, a bundle of white turnips and a few baby bok choy.

Every week, I will receive a variety of produce and I have the pleasure of creating delicious recipes with the goods I am given. The highlight of the crop share is that you do not have a choice in what you receive, you get your share every week depending on what the farmer's choose to grow. This gives the members a chance to try different vegetables they may not necessarily pick up from their local grocery store. I know I never had the urge to pick up baby bok choy from the store, but after trying it in my share, it is now something I will be picking up more often.

Many farms offer a CSA program, but I highly recommend Golden Earthworm Organic Farm if you live on Long Island or in Queens. Golden Earthworm is located in Riverhead, New York on the East End of Long Island and it is a certified organic farm. For more information on the farm or the CSA program, visit their website at Golden Earthworm Farm.

It is too late for this season, but I highly suggest researching a CSA near you and highly recommend participating. I am excited to see what this year's crop brings and the recipes to go along with it.