Thursday, January 23, 2014

Four Fresh Ideas For Watermelon Radish and Purple Kohlrabi

Vegetables at the farmers' markets this time of year can start looking pretty ugly. But don't judge a vegetable by its skin! They still taste great. Here are a few fresh ideas.

Salad
Here is a pretty salad with shaved watermelon radish and purple kohlrabi over organic romaine lettuce. The skin of both vegetables can be eaten. Wash and trim off the bad spots. If the skin on the kohlrabi is tough, just peel it all off. We'll eat this salad as is or add other toppings and finish it off with our favorite dressing. 


The other night we had a spinach salad with shaved kohlrabi and watermelon radish topped with crumbled leftover salmon and local honey balsamic vinaigrette*.


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Carrots
These carrots aren't the most attractive looking but they taste just fine. Clean them, keep skins on for more nutrition and trim off whatever looks bad. Taste. If sweet, the carrots are fine to cook or eat raw in a salad or dip (below), etc. If bitter, they're good to make a vegetable stock.



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Snack
Look how beautiful this snack looks. These vegetables make a lovely snack with hummus.


Side Dish
Here is a side dish made by combining the sweet tasting carrots with watermelon radish and purple kohlrabi. I used the wide blade on my shredder to slice them. A mandolin would slice them up very nicely as well. The salad was dressed with rice vinegar, freshly ground pepper, and celery seeds.


Salsa or Relish
Lastly, below is a salsa or relish made with a handful each of watermelon radish and purple kohlrabi, two green apples, a shallot, and a lime. I finely minced the vegetables and shallot together in a small food processor, finely chopped green apples, added cider vinegar, honey and a little sugar, celery seeds, freshly ground pepper, a little salt, and juice from one lime. I used amounts I thought was appropriate and adjusted to taste. I suppose cilantro would taste good here, but I didn't have any.


The salsa/relish made a nice after school snack for the boys with organic non-GMO corn chips.


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*The local Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing is made by D.E. Vine Foods in Warwick, RI. This is just something I love and want to share. No compensation was received.

Watermelon radish is milder in flavor than the cherry bomb variety. For a good description of its flavor, click here.

Watermelon radish, purple kohlrabi, and carrots were purchased from Freedom Food Farm at the Hope Artiste Village winter farmers' market.