Tag Archives: kohlrabi

Beef, Recipes, Soups and Stews

Cottage Pie is Comfort Food

When winter is howling at the windows and the temperatures are dropping into the red zone of the thermometer, it’s time to look for warming, hearty food dishes that make you feel secure. One of those is the Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage Pie. The basic difference between the two is the meat used for the filling. Strictly speaking, if it’s lamb, you have a Shepherd’s Pie. Any other filling is a Cottage Pie.

This Cottage Pie is made with minced up beef or ground beef. I found a package of chopped carne asada, which is basically steak meat cut in tiny pieces, at my grocery store or you can it into small bites yourself. Instead of using potatoes, I used a combination of cauliflower, turnips, and kohlrabi to make the mashed vegetables to top off the stew-like filling. You can use all cauliflower or any combination of the vegetables that you prefer.

This dish tastes wonderful and it fills you up with a warming winter dish that won’t add unwanted pounds.

Cottage Pie

1 lb ground or minced Beef
2 slices of thick-sliced Bacon
1/2 cup Onions, chopped
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1 cup Mushrooms, sliced
1 large Carrot, diced
1 cup Green Beans, diced, cooked
1 tablespoon Low Carb Flour
1/2 cup diced Turnips
1 cup Cauliflower, chopped
1/2 cup Kohlrabi, chopped
1 tablespoon Heavy Cream
1 cup Beef Broth
2 tablespoons Butter
Seasoning Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder, optional
1 cup Cheddar Cheese, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees(F.)

Cook turnips, cauliflower and kohlrabi in a pan of water until tender. Drain well, then mash with a masher or in a food processor. Add cream, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Cook bacon in a heavy skillet, drain on a paper towel. Pour off most of the bacon fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon, then add the garlic and onion and lightly brown. Add the beef and stir fry until lightly browned. Stir in the mushrooms and cook a few minutes. Mix the low carb flour into the beef broth and add to the skillet and bring to a boil. Break the bacon into pieces and add to the pan along with the cooked carrots and green beans and cook until the mixture thickens.

Pour into an 8×8 baking pan. Smooth the turnip and cauliflower mixture over the top to form a top crust. Sprinkle optional cheddar cheese over the top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is lightly browned. Let cool about five minutes, then serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Information per serving:
Calories:480 Fat:35.9 g Net Carbs:4.6 g Protein: 31 g

Main Dish, Poultry, Recipes

Chicken Leek Pot Pie Comfort

Last week, a storm system rolled into the Northern Sierra  Mountains and brought downright chilly weather to Reno along with some heavy rains at times.  It was lovely to go from over 100-degree temperatures one day to down in the low 70’s for several days.  But it also called out for a casserole dish or some other kind of comfort food.  So I made this wonderfully delicious chicken with leeks and other vegetables pot pie.   It has a rich creamy sauce with light seasoning that is just great.   I used kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts in the dish, but the vegetables can vary.  Add turnips and green beans or cauliflower and broccoli.  The recipe is versatile.

Chicken Leek Pot Pie

Chicken and leek are just two of the wonderful ingredients in this delicious pot pie.

3/4 lb Chicken Breast
1/2 cup Leek, sliced (white and greens)
1/2 cup Mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup Kohlrabi, diced and parboiled
1 cup Brussels sprouts, cut into quarters and parboiled
1/2 cup Onions, chopped
1 teaspoon Better than Bullion Chicken
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream or Half and Half
1 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon ground Thyme
1 teaspoon ground Sage,
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
2 tablespoons Butter
1 tablespoon Low Carb Flour

Topping
1 cup Low Carb Flour
1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 cup Water
1 large Egg,
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/3 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded & divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F.) Prepare a 2 to 3-quart baking dish by spraying lightly with cooking spray.

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Cover and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat, then add leeks and onions. Cook until they are just tender. Add chicken and cook until the meat turns white. Push the meat and vegetables to the side, add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon low carb flour and stir together to make a paste in the middle. Add the cream, bullion and seasonings. Stir until mixed together, then pull the meat and vegetables back into the sauce. Add the mushrooms, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts. Turn burner to simmer and cook while you prepare the topping.

In a medium bowl, add the topping ingredients, except 1/2 of the cheese, and mix together. If it is too thick, add a little water. This is like a moist drop biscuit dough so don’t over-mix or add too much liquid.

Pour the chicken filling mix into the prepared baking dish. Use a spoon to drop six large biscuits over the top and use the back of the spoon to spread them to make an almost solid crust over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top and bake another 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Makes 6 servings

Nutrition Info per serving:
     Calories:318.6 Fat: 22.7 g Net Carbs: 6.2 g Protein: 20.7 g

Give this recipe a try and add your own favorites to it.  Let me know how you like this.  By the way, what is your favorite comfort food for a chilly day?

A to Z Challenge 2015

Kooky Kohlrabi is Great!

4 Comments

Kohlrabi is one of my favorite vegetables. I didn’t “discover” it until a few years ago when one of my friends in France mentioned it to me as a potato alternative. As luck would have it, my local grocery had some in stock so I tried it. Whenever I’m looking for an option to replace potatoes in a recipe, I try it two or three ways I would cook a potato, the first being to fry it. Kohlrabi handled this marvelously, frying up nicely into a tasty plank that doesn’t taste like potato, but still gives you an excellent fried vegetable with sandwiches. It also handled the roast and boil test as well as being a great sliced vegetable in salads.

America is just now finding kohlrabi, it seems, although it’s been here since the early 1800’s. I mostly hear that people have cut it thinly or shredded it and used it in their salads or that they’ve used the leaves and thrown the bulb away or fed it to farm animals . But it is so much more. I love to mix it with cauliflower and celery root and make mashed veggies with it that can replace mashed potatoes. They don’t taste like mashed potatoes, but they have such a wonderful flavor that I don’t even care.  As a side dish on its own, cooked with butter and seasonings, it is delicious. I cannot rave enough about this vegetable!

History

This is a relatively new vegetable that originated in Germany. The name is German for cabbage (kohl) and turnip (rabi). Indeed, the vegetable comes from the same root family as cabbage, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts —  the wild mustard plant. Prior to about 500 years ago, there was no record or indication of either kohlrabi or Brussels sprouts. They appear to be cultivated varieties of the root stock. What is unusual about kohlrabi is that the vegetable grows into a round tuber on the stalk with long stalks of leaves coming out it. It’s almost like having a root above ground. While it looks odd, its flavor is similar to its cousin broccoli’s stalk, but milder in flavor. The leaves are also edible, although by the time the bulb reaches 3 inches or more in diameter, the leaves get a little tough. They can be cooked and used as you would turnip or mustard greens.

There are several varieties of kohlrabi, the green variety being seen most often. There is also a purple variety. I have grown some of each in my garden and I notice the purple variety tends to be more elongated. They like cool weather though and thus far, I haven’t gotten them to maturity before summer sets in.

The vegetable needs to be peeled as there are two layers of tough skin and fiber that are not edible. I find it easiest to parboil them for about three minutes, cool them down, then a paring knife removes these layers quickly.  I really urge you to try kohlrabi, raw or cooked, and enjoy this marvelous-tasting vegetable.

Recipes

kohlrabi-comp

 

Here’s a few recipes from Skinny Girl that use or feature kohlrabi:

Spicy Chicken Kohlrabi Curry
Hungarian Style Kohlrabi Rolls
Kohlrabi and Ham Casserole
Irish Style Celery and Kohlrabi
Broccoli with Mornay Sauce

Nutrition information for 1 cup (135 g) kohlrabi
Calories: 36.5 Fat: 0.1 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 2.3 g

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not.  If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted.

References for this article include Wikipedia, Specialty Produce,  Kohlrabi and Brussels Sprouts Are European

Photos taken by R. Averett, copyright Skinny Girl Bistro

Main Dish, Pork, Recipes

Kohl– what? Kohlrabi and Ham Casserole

I have a friend to thank for pointing me to kohlrabi. I had barely heard of it, certainly hadn’t tasted it and hadn’t a clue that I would love it. After I posted my recipe for the turnip and butternut squash mash, she mentioned that kohlrabi would work well in place of the turnips. That sent me on a quest for it and luckily, I found the root vegetable on my first try at the supermarket. It’s a nice green bulb about the color of the vegetable it tastes a bit like, broccoli stalks. But it also has a texture and taste that is a bit like potato. Delightful! You can also get purple kohlrabi, tastes the same, I hear, but I haven’t seen it yet.

So, I went hunting for recipes using kohlrabi and found one for a dish that is from a German cookbook. Can I make anything the way it is written? Of course not, I added to it and changed it slightly, adding turnips, onions and other ingredients to create this tasty casserole dish. So I offer this recipe for those who might enjoy the combination. If you don’t like turnips, just double up on the kohlrabi.

2 Kohlrabi, peeled and cubed
2 Turnips, peeled and cubed
8 oz Ham, cubed
1 Onion diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Leek, sliced thinly
1 cup torn Baby Spinach leaves (optional)
1 tablespoon Butter or Olive Oil
2 Egg yolks
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 tablespoon Carbquick or other low carb flour or thickener
1/4 teaspoon Mace
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Put cubed kohlrabi and turnips into a pan, add enough water to cover and boil for about 20 minutes until fork tender. Meanwhile, sauté onion, garlic and leek in 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil. Drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix egg yolks, cream, Carbquick and seasonings together. Blend the flour in well until it is smooth.

Spray an 8×8 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Return kohlrabi and turnips to pan and mix in the onion mixture. Spread 1/2 of this mixture on the bottom of the casserole. Spread the diced ham on top and spread the spinach leaves over the ham. Top with the remaining kohlrabi mixture. Pour the cream mixture over the top, distributing evenly over the casserole.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the cream is set.

Serves 4 hearty appetites or 6 regular servings.

Nutrition 4 servings: Calories 355 Net Carbs 11.3 g Protein 11 g
6 servings: Calories 236.7 Net Carbs 7.5 g Protein 7.3 g