Is it a Cabbage or a Turnip? Kohlrabi

Is it a cabbage or is it a turnip?

Kohlrabi is a mysterious vegetable that is a hybrid cross between the two.

The leaves and the swollen stem may both be eaten, but it is grown for its swollen stem.

A popular vegetable in Germany and Italy in the nineteenth century, the Italians ate it before the stem grew any larger than a hen's egg, while the German's preferred it fully grown.

Red Kohlrabi grown in Co. Kilkenny

Kohlrabi can be eaten raw in salads or cooked. There is a school of thought that believes its distinctive flavour is mainly in the skin and near it, so it is probably best steamed intact until tender. Then it can be peeled, if required, and sliced. Also, delicious, when simply roasted - just peel, roughly dice along with other root vegetables, some onion and herbs, mix with olive oil and roast until tender.

The leaves are also good for eating and are best treated like kale. Easily grown in County Kilkenny, so give it a go.

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A Feast of Kilkenny Produce

Where can I eat a meal like this in Kilkenny? The photograph may not be the best, but the flavour was superb. The roast pork was from a Kilkenny free range, Tamworth pig crossed with a wild boar - succulent, full of flavour, without being too strong, with the perfect crisp crackling.

Kilkenny Produce at its best

The classic Sharpe's Express new potatoes, the mint, the spinach and the broad beans were freshly dug and/or picked, less than an hour before consumption. The gravy was made from the rich pork juices. Such simple fresh ingredients need no elaborate sauces, in fact they make salt and pepper almost redundant.

The tender young broad beans, cooked briefly in their jackets (no need for peeling), have a immediate and delicious flavour that no picture can convey. The spinach briefly wilted, had no requirement for any seasoning and there is simply no alternative to a freshly dug new potato, steamed with some sprigs of mint. The experience is intense.

These ingredients are all easily reared and grown in Kilkenny. So, why is it so difficult to find a restaurant in County Kilkenny serving simple high quality, seasonal and local ingredients, that are squeeky fresh, at a reasonable price?

If you know of one, please email me at: kilkennyseakale@gmail.com

The Unfashionable Cauliflower

The unfashionable Cauliflowers Brassica oleracea var botrytis have been excellent this year and well behaved. They have had the decency not to produce their white curds all at the same time.

A freshly harvested Kilkenny Cauliflower

According to Sir Ghillean Prance and Mark Nesbitt in the "Cultural History of Plants", 2005, the Cauliflower probably originated in Cyprus and was cultivated in Italy in the 15th century. By the end of the eighteenth century, it was a popular vegetable. It was one of the vegetables that John M'Craith, nursery and seedsman, was offering for sale in Kilkenny in 1827 and it is fair to assume that it has been grown and eaten in Kilkenny since then.
Vilmorin-Andrieux and Robinson list 18 different varieties in 1920, including dwarf, giant and purple varieties. These days, the popularity of cauliflower (easily grown in Co. Kilkenny), is waning in favour of imported vegetables.
Best eaten as soon as it is harvested, delicious raw or gently steamed. It makes great purees and soups; the possibilities are endless. A fresh, lightly cooked Cauliflower needs little seasoning, just a bit of grated nutmeg will compliment it. When buying Cauliflowers, look out for ones with good, long crisp green leaves and cook these along with the florets, to enhance your dish.
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Traditional Style Barley, Oat and Offal Pudding

Before the introduction of potatoes in Ireland, people depended on barley and oats for their carbohydrates. We subsequently forgot how versatile these cereals are. So, here is a traditional type pudding that might have been made, in Kilkenny, 400 years ago. In the past, it would have been steamed in a cloth, bowls were not used for steaming foods until the latter half of the nineteenth century. If one was to be a purist, the bacon would not be in rasher form, as the rasher was reputedly developed in Waterford, circa 1820.

Barley, Oat, Pork Liver and Pork Kidney Pudding

RECIPE © Kilkenny Seakale

1 pork kidney roughly diced

1/4 pork liver roughly diced

1/2 pint of milk

1 large onion

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon country butter

2 cups* of barley (cooked in pork stock)

2 cups* of jellied pork stock

2 cups* of coarsely ground barley

1 cup* organic porridge oat flakes

3 free range cooked & chopped bacon rashers

1 heaped teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 grated nutmeg

1/3 teaspoon mixed spice

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chervil

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh spinach

1 tablespoon vinegar

*these cups are slightly smaller than the standard American measure

Barley, Oat & Offal Pudding made with fresh Herbs

Soak the pork liver and kidney in milk for 1 1/2 hours. Rinse, cover with water, bring to boil, then discard water and bring to boil a second time and strain immediately. Chop the cooked meat finely. Sweat the onion, with a bay leaf, in butter. Remove the bay leaf. Place the meat and onion in a bowl, along with the remaining ingredients. Mix well and place in a buttered 1 1/2 litre pudding bowl. Cover and steam for 2 hours. When cool turn out into a plate.

Barley, Oat & Offal Pudding with a tart Sloe Jam Sauce

This makes a surprisingly rich flavoured pudding, delicious when complimented by a tart sloe jam sauce, tasting somewhere between a classic Irish white pudding and a Scottish haggis.

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Jellied Pork Stock made from a Kilkenny Pig

Two organic pigs' heads and several feet (crubeens or trotters) landed up on the kitchen table. Great food for recessionary times. The heads from these Kilkenny reared, saddle back pigs were split, one half was placed in the pot to make a parsley and lemon brawn, seasoned with nutmeg. There was enough meat to fill a large loaf tin and it will take a few days to eat it all. So, the remainder of the heads were frozen until required.

Organically reared Kilkenny Crubeens

If you are a bit squeamish about eating crubeens, you can still use them - do not let them go to waste. Use them to make a wonderful jellied stock. Boil them up, simmer for 2-3 hours with an onion, some root vegetables and whatever herbs and spices are available and suitable for flavouring stock.

Slices of Jellied Pork Stock ready for use

Once the meat begins to leave the bones, strain and reduce the stock to the required consistency (it will probably cool to a jelly without even reducing it). Any the liquid left over from the brawn, can be added to the liquid stock.

Pig's Crubeen Jellied Stock

Pour into a mould and cool. The jellied stock is ready for use. It can be sliced and frozen for later use or else use immediately for soups, stews and pies or for more adventurous recipes. At least you now know what is in your stock, unlike the stock made from a shop-bought stock cube. Stew a pork hock in this stock for extra rich flavour.

There would be no free range, happy organic pigs, if we did not eat them. These pigs were killed so that we can eat them, we should respect this and make use of every part of that pig and avoid waste. Eat less meat and better quality meat and your diet will be healthier. 

Email: kilkennyseakale@gmail.com