What an experience. It is rare now a days that I come across an ingredient that I am not familiar with. I have always been curious about Kohlrabi but never got around to working with it until now. So I do a bit of research on the web to see what it is like and the comments are it’s like a turnip, no kinda like broccoli, no more like a turnip with broccoli over tones and the descriptions go on and on and on. So now that I am not too much further along than I was before I decide to go get some and start to play with it. I pick up a few proteins to go with it since I’m not quite sure what to expect. I get home, peel the stuff and taste it and it is has a sweet flavor with the texture of a turnip and the finish of broccoli.
Time to experiment with it, slice it thin, fry it puree it etc… and see what works well with it and then I settled on creating this recipe which I think uses the vegetable in a variety of ways along with the flavor of rosemary. And the flavor combination well that was something wonderful. I like kohlrabi and look forward to using it more often.
Pan Seared Opah with Kohlrabi 3 ways
Orange braised greens, rosemary roasted and heirloom tomato triangles with a rosemary aioli
Recipe yield 2 mid sized entree portions
Roasted Rosemary Kohlrabi sticks
Ingredients:
- 2 kohlrabi bulbs
- 2 tsp rosemary
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Directions:
Heat oven to 350º and place empty sheet pan in oven. Peel two kohlrabi bulb and cut off both ends. Putting the kohlrabi buld flat on your cutting board cut one edge off to make it flat on one side. Put that side on the cutting board and slice into 3/8″ thick slices. You can slice them to your desired thickness. Cut each slice into 3/8″ wide sticks. Put into bowl with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and mix well so all the sticks are well coated. Once oven is heated wait 10 minutes then put sticks on hot sheet pan and put back in the oven. set the timer for 30 minutes. Check the sticks after 20 minutes and turn sticks over to allow to brown on the other side. Check again after 30 mins and if the other sides are not brown then leave in the over until they are or you are happy with them. Taste them when you pull them out and if needed add more salt to taste.
Orange Braised Kohlrabi Greens
Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups of Kohlrabi greens
- 1 tsp garlic
- 2 tsp rosemary
- 1.5 c water
- 1/4 cup orange juice from concentrate
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Directions:
Wash kohlrabi greens and separate leaves from stems discarding the stems. Chop into small pieces. Finely chop rosemary and garlic. Heat pan and add a bit of olive oil to coat. Once the pan is hot add kohlrabi greens salt and pepper and saute for about a minute. Next add all other ingredients and mix.
Let the greens simmer on medium heat until liquid has pretty much evaporated. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Heirloom Tomato Kohlrabi triangles
Ingredients:
- 1/2 medium sized heirloom Tomato
- 1/4 kohlrabi bulb
- 1/4 tsp finely chopped rosemary
- Pepper
- Fleur de cel or flakey salt
- Truffle oil or really good olive oil
Directions:
Peel kohlrabi and slice off ends. Using a mandolin slice kohlrabi into 1/16″ thick slices. Finely chop rosemary. Slice heirloom tomato into 1/4″ slices. Place one slice of kohlrabi down on cutting board and sprinkle a bit of rosemary, fleur de cel and pepper on one side. Center tomato slice over the kohlrabi and top with a second slice of kohlrabi. Carefully cut into 4 equal triangles. Finish on plate with truffle oil or really good olive oil and a bit of fleur de cel.
Rosemary Aioli
Zest one lemon and then juice. Place egg yolk, rosemary, garlic, lemon juice, honey and dijon mustard in food processor and turn on to allow all ingredients to mix together.
Next slowly add oil a bit at a time until it is all in. Mix for another 30 seconds and taste the aioli. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Pan Seared Rosemary Opah
Trim bloodline from Opah. Cut filet into 4 ounce pieces for appetizer or first course and 6 to 8 ounce pieces for entree portion. Make sure that the cuts are square so it will stand up on all 6 sides in the pan. In a bowl mix olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. Place Opah in bowl and coat completely.
Heat pan and coat lightly with oil. Make sure it is very hot but not smoking. Place opah filet in pan and sear. You can see it cooking by looking at the ends of the fish. Once it begins to cook about 1/4 inch on a 1 to 1.5″ thick piece then turn it to the next side until all 6 sides have been seared.
Be sure not to leave the Opah searing too long or it will dry out. Once it is done it can be anywhere from medium rare (similar to seared Ahi) to Medium. Both are very nice.
Plating
Place kohlrabi tomato triangles on plate on opposite side stack the kohlrabi sticks, put aioli on plate and braised greens next to it and top with the opah. Put a bit of aioli on top of opah and garnish with lemon zest.
The flavor combination is wonderful. The delicate flavor of the Opah works beautifully with the rosemary aioli. The greens have an nice balance of slight bitterness which is offset by the citrus and complimented by the garlic and rosemary. When combining all the flavors on the plate you get a wonderful symphony of flavors that work beautifully together on the palate.
I hope you enjoy!
Comments (7)
Yummmmm. It all looks good. I can’t wait to try my hand at the Opah with braised Kohlrabi greens. You’ve introduced me to an ingredient that I would otherwise probably never eat, let alone cook with.
Great post, with all the detailed recipes, photos and steps.
Awesome presentation! The kohlrabi sticks definitely have my mouth watering.
What a great recipe! and such detail! good luck!
Absolutely delicious! You are a creative genius!
Nice post! Hope you had as much fun as I did. Good luck.
This looks really delicious- great job and good luck!
Thank you for reading. More to come.