Discovering Kohlrabi
15 October 2007
I have to admit I have never cooked kohlrabi before this. In fact, I tend to use rather Mediterranean than Central European vegetables for my cooking, such as courgettes, peppers and my beloved aubergines. I have hardly ever used any autochthonous or at least typical products from my own region. I somehow associated the local vegetables with rather traditional and little creative dishes and had so far just not had the idea of using these products for any of my - not so traditional - sauces. This is about to change as my latest kohlrabi experiment turned out to be very tasty and – for me – unusual. The sweetish and tender taste developed very nicely in combination with the more exotic taste of curry plus the again milder but very characteristic taste of lovage. There will certainly be more kohlrabi recipes to come in the future, but for the moment here’s this nice and easy one to start with:
Chicken Breast with Curry-Flavoured Kohlrabi
| serves 4 as a main dish |
| 4 chicken breast filets |
| 3 kohlrabi |
| 400ml vegetable stock |
| 125ml crème fraîche |
| fresh lovage |
| some curry |
| some garlic powder |
| rice as a side dish |
Cut the peel off the kohlrabis with a knife. I tried it with a peeler first but the peel appeared to be too leathery and thick. Also make sure you get it off completely to avoid any hard and woody pieces on your plate. Dice the kohlrabi in approx. 1cm pieces and sauté them for a few minutes in some olive oil or butter. Powder them with curry (the amount depending on the strength and spiciness of the curry as well as your personal taste; I took 4 teaspoons of a semi-mild one), cover with vegetable stock and let them cook lightly for approximately 15 minutes. Once the liquid has been substantially reduced to a rather semi-liquid sauce add the crème fraîche and let the sauce reduce further for just another few minutes. Just 5 minutes before serving season with the freshly chopped lovage.
While the kohlrabis are simmering season the chicken breasts with salt, curry and garlic powder and roast them in just a bit of olive oil. Regulate the heat to medium temperature to keep the chicken breast from burning and leave them for about 5 minutes on each side; check with a fork if they are done. Then increase the heat and sear the chicken for another 1-2 minutes on either side until the outside is browned.
To accompany sauce and chicken I prepared some rice.
| Suggestions for Starters | Suggestions for Desserts |
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