
So you’ve just opened your CSA box to an unfamiliar sight—a strange-looking bulb with long leaves sprouting every which way. After asking Google, your hippie aunt, two of your neighbors and a guy in line with you at Trader Joe’s, you finally figure out that the mystery plant is called kohlrabi. Great… now what do you do with the giant bag of it in your fridge?
For the solution to this and other similar dilemmas, turn to Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables, a witty and practical collection of recipes organized by vegetable and season. Since the book comes straight from a CSA-supported farm, it’s geared perfectly towards the needs of eager (but sometimes bewildered) shareholders. The recipes, which range from sweet to savory, include such creative items as Rosemary Lemonade, Baked-Beet-and-Carrot Burgers, and Sweet Zucchini Crumble. To add a little spice, they’re interspersed with essays, tips, quotes from CSA shareholders, and some funny tidbits. Apparently, for example, “Alice B. Toklas described kohlrabi’s taste as ‘having the pungency of a highborn radish born to a lowbrow cucumber.’”
Wishing you had a copy on hand for dinner tonight? You’re in luck – we’re giving away a free copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook to one randomly chosen lucky commenter! Just tell everyone the most inventive dish you’ve made with your CSA produce by Friday, July 24 in order to be entered to win.
Photo of kohlrabi from thebittenword.com on Flickr

I made Mark Bittman’s beets with walnut & garlic sauce. I threw in the green beans I had from the co-op as well.
i make what i call super nutrient pizza. i use the tomatoes and kale from the CSA, blend it all to make an almost pesto, throw it on top of some whole wheat pizza dough with some CSA garlic and enjoy!
I already have this cookbook so I won’t enter but I just want to say I love it! I blogged about it earlier, and shared the beet-carrot burger recipe which is one of my favorites!
I made a delicious frittata with leftover beet greens. I sauteed some onions and garlic then added the greens and some zucchini. I roasted some sweet potato with a little bit of olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and added them to the pan as well right before adding the egg. It turned out to be a great combination of flavors.
Some of us from the Tenafly CSA have been trying to get creative with the massive amounts of squash and zucchini we are getting. So I think the perfect food from a Jewish CSA would be zucchini latkes. I’m making them for dinner this week.
Turkey Spinach Burger
all CAPS are veggies from our CSA]
Here is a recipe adapted from July’s Prevention magazine which called for frozen spinach. I’m including it because we have made it at least 4 times on our George Forman grill. It cooked more evenly than our standard burger. [One week we substituted SWISS CHARD--after that we stuck with spinach]
1 lb. ground turkey [we tried both regular and white meat Empire]
SPINACH [to taste or however much we got that week from the CSA]
2 Tbsp bbq sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Whole wheat pita
Tomato slices
LETTUCE leaves
oil
OPTIONAL: garlic, GARLIC SCAPES, ONION
1. Saute garlic, onion and spinach in oil.
2. Combine turkey, spinach [drained just a bit], bbq sauce, salt, pepper. Shape into 4 burgers — maybe more depending upon the amount of spinach used.
3. Grill patties, turning once.
4. Serve in whole wheat pita with tomato and lettuce or on a bread of your choice.
I made carrot-top pesto, with the green tops of the carrots, toasted pine nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. I was inspired by a delicious carrot-top pesto at Ubuntu Restaurant in Napa. I learned that the carrot tops don’t need to go to waste.
Simply diced, with carrots and tomatoes and cucumbers in a salad. Lemon juice and chives and salt and pepper.
WOAH! Carrot tops? Hilla, that’s awesome – my CSA organizers implied that I could eat them but they had never tried and had no suggestions for how to eat them. I’ve just been fantasizing about feeding them to an imaginary pet bunny, but in reality dropping them off at the farmer’s market compost on my way home from the CSA (same deal with my radish greens).
Would you post the full recipe sometime soon?
Red lentil pancakes, with leftover red lentils, instant coffee, tomatoes, and plenty of rapadura or brown sugar. Serve in October on a crisp night, with hot chocolate, warm stories, and a Jack’o'lantern centerpiece filled with pumpkin soup.
Gluten-free zucchini pancakes! Soo good!
Hi Avigail, sure thing..
(keep in mind that carrot tops have a much more subtle flavor than basil, so don’t expect it to be just like regular pesto)
Carrot Top Pesto
1 bunch carrot tops, leaves only
2 scallions (or 1 large CSA one), whites and greens
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (be careful not to burn them!)
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast*
1 teaspoon ground flax seed (optional)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth. If desired, add a little water to thin it out.
*Nutritional yeast makes it pareve/vegan and lower in fat that parmesan, but you could certainly use parmesan.
If you try it, let me know what you think!
I’ve been getting more and more creative about soup, especially here in Houston where the winter shares are full of greens. Nowadays I don’t even open a cookbook, just saute some onion & garlic and start throwing in whatever greens have sat too long in the fridge. My last soup also included CSA potatoes and was super yummy then and last week when I popped a serving out of the freezer and into the microwave. I usually use a vegetarian broth made from my pareve chicken bouillion.