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July 29 - Vicki's Vegetable Ventures

Posted 7/29/2012 3:05pm by Josie Hart Genter.

Kohlrabi quest continues
After a unique twist on slaw using kohlrabi, I incorporated the next batch of kohlrabi in a skillet mix-up. Other vegetables joining the party included our CSA carrots, greens and squash, all flavored with the potent yumminess of chorizo sausage.
The effort was a success, but it seemed the natural flavor of the vegetables got “mixed up” with each other and with the chorizo. Actually I think I recall learning this lesson last year: Don’t get too fussy with these vegetables because they are at once too gentle to withstand the fuss and too flavorful not to appreciate them prepared simply.
With last week’s kohlrabi, I turned to a Jamie Oliver recipe for roasted beets and carrots, throwing in the kohlrabi and also making use of our thyme and garlic. It was quite a delicious side dish for our grilled pork chops. Roasting, I decided, is the best method of preparation for kohlrabi but not beets and carrots. Again, I would have enjoyed them more just boiled and eaten on their own, maybe with a dab of salt and butter. Roasting is too powerful for these delicate delights.

Beans and greens
Beans and greens are “natural mates,” as Jamie Oliver would say. (I’m on a Jamie kick here lately.) When I was growing up we had this combo all the time in our household, as it’s pervasive in both Kentucky cuisine (my father) and Italian cuisine (my mother.). Out here in Colorado, though, I never experience this tasty twosome, neither in restaurants nor when invited to friends’ houses for dinner.
So I often cook the duo myself. I recently watched Giada make a lovely concoction of ground chicken, greens, cannellini beans and ample seasonings. It’s kind of a cross between a chili, soup and stew. I used all our various greens: two kinds of kale, two kinds of kohlrabi greens and the beet greens. I added a cut-up CSA squash, too, since there wasn’t enough of it to serve on its own.
I ended up with a meal in one pot that was healthy, inexpensive, easy to make (despite the number of ingredients), heartwarming and belly-satisfying.

‘Don’t go to any trouble’
My friend Patti is coming to stay with me for a few days, immediately followed by my sister Sandra’s visit for a week. “Don’t go to any trouble,” they both told me. Meal planning proved tricky, however, as Patti doesn’t eat dairy, wheat, pork or beef. And Sandra recently went on a strict vegetarian diet that excludes fish, chicken and dairy. “It suits my values,” she said about her new endeavor.
Lucky I have lots of vegetables on hand. After much thought I devised a plan to suit everyone’s needs — lots of greens, lentils and of course our fresh herbs and vegetables from the Chatfield gardens. For Sandra’s visit, I was looking forward to lentil soup with herbs and making a recipe for vegetarian spaghetti and “meatballs” I’ve been wanting to try.
But then Sandra emailed me to say she was off the vegetarian diet and on the paleo diet. Apparently vegetarianism agreed with her values but not her digestive system. Paleo-ism includes meat but no dairy, legumes or wheat, so I had to nix the lentil soup and vegetarian spaghetti and meatballs.
Internet research on the paleo diet turns up lots of arguments against cooked food and queries from folks asking, “Is this paleo, is that paleo?” Later when I was researching if I could substitute ginger simple syrup for honey and ginger (which I’d run out of), I saw myriad posts about whether honey is allowed on a vegetarian diet. “No,” declared one purist, “because honey is basically bee vomit.”
Honestly. These people are going to way too much trouble.

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