Kohlrabi Success, Empanada Failure **RECIPE ALERT**

In my last post I mentioned how excited I was to receive a kohlrabi in my farm box, simply because I had absolutely no clue what a Kohlrabi was.  Suddenly it was my immediate mission to find a recipe that utilized it properly.

Backing up- do you know what a kohlrabi is, loyal readers? Simply put, it's part of the cabbage family, available early in the summer, and looks like those big red bouncy balls with a handle that you sat and bounded around on in gym class in elementary school.  Except it's much smaller. And greener. And has long kale-like leaves growing out of it. Sooo.... really not at all like a bouncy ball. It tastes somewhat broccoli-like but very juicy. I'm not a broccoli fan, but I did enjoy snacking on the raw kohlrabi.

What I was most surprised about is that the main edible part of the kohlrabi is the bulb and not the leaves.  You can eat the leaves of course, but most recipes call for the root as the main ingredient.  It's a good thing that I verified which part to use, or it would have added to the hilarious disaster that was the following meal.

Anyhoo, search around I did until I found what looked to be a spectacular recipe for kohlrabi and squash empanadas.  I didn't have squash, but I had the zucchini from the CSA box, so an appropriate substitute was made.

Everything from there on out ended up being somewhat of a disaster. I managed to almost slice any number of my fingers off multiple times. I rolled out the pastry dough for the shell onto a non-floured surface and realized my mistake too late, resulting in a huge mess. We almost set the house on fire by accidentally putting wax paper into the oven.  And when transferring the beleaguered empanadas to a new pan, we succeeded in squishing them into unrecognizable shapes.  By the time we sat down to eat, it was more like an empanada stew/pot pie mess than artistic half moon pockets of deliciousness.  Seriously, if you were there to watch it and didn't know better, you would have assumed that I never set foot in a kitchen in my life.

That being said... the filling for the disaster pods was absolutely spectacular, and that is the recipe I share with you below.  Note that we did not add radish to ours, but i think it would have been nice.  Use this filling for whatever recipe suits your fancy, or as a side, or whatever. I'm not really sure what to call it on it's own.  If you have the desire to do the full empanada she-bang, you can find the recipe here. Straight from the Farm looks like a great blog I might reference again for recipes. Just not for empanada ones.

Kohlrabi and Zucchini... Filling?

3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 inch of ginger, peeled and grated
2 medium kohlrabies, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 large zucchini, cut into small cubes
2 large scallions, both white and green parts, finely cut
1 radish, minced (optional)
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. butter
salt and pepper to taste
dash of freshly grated nutmeg


In a medium skillet, heat oil and butter over medium heat.  Add garlic and ginger to brown.  Add kohlrabi cubes, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Toss well and cook 3 or 4 minutes until kohlrabi are softening a bit.  Add zucchini cubes and continue to cook for 4 more minutes.  Add scallions, radish, nutmeg and another pinch of salt and pepper.  Mix well and cook for one minute before removing from heat.  Set mixture to this side to cool.