Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Gluten free kohlrabi tabouli (tabbouleh/tabbouli)

A new post!  It's been a while.  But I wanted to share this recipe modification cause it's a good one.  No pictures or anything... and it's barely even a recipe since I wasn't really measuring.  But here goes.

This idea was born of necessity and to address three small problems.
1) Ack!  What am I going to do with all this parsley!?
2) Ack!  What am I going to do with all this kohlrabi!?
3) Tabouli is a good use of parsley but Andy doesn't eat wheat anymore, so what to do...

Substitute kohlrabi for the wheat.  Easy peasy.  Actually it makes putting together tabouli easier cause you don't have to cook the bulgar.

Ingredients - serves 4 as a side
1/2 a medium sized kohlrabi (about the size of a large orange)
about 1 c. parsley leaves loosely packed, washed and spun in a lettuce spinner or dried with a towel
3-4 green onions
~8 cherry tomatoes
2 T. olive oil
juice of 1 lemon (I like it very lemony, you may want to start with less)
S+P to taste

1.  Peel the kohlrabi and cut into slices.  Cut the green onions into 1" pieces.
2.  Place the kohlrabi, green onions, and parsley in the food processor.  Process till everything is pretty finely chopped.
3.  Put the tomatoes in and pulse a few more times.
4.  Toss with oil, lemon juice, S+P.

Tip: don't worry much about getting the stems off the parsley.  I basically just grabbed all the leaves and pulled, taking whatever stems that wanted to come with me.  Since we get them finely chopped in the processor, the stems don't detract from the texture, and they actually increase the parsley taste!

This is a very fast way to make tabouli, and I love how the sweetness of the kohlrabi tempers the lemony acidity, and also improves the texture compared to a straight parsley based recipe.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Truffled lobster and spinach pasta

Whoaaaaa, the first new post in forever!!!  Don't get your hopes up, I don't think I'll be adding new recipes all that often, but this was too easy and good to skip.  I was tempted to call it the "8-8-8"... it would be a great dish to impress your significant other with, and I think even Andy could make it.  And while it sounds incredibly luxurious and expensive, the lobster was only $6 (on sale), pasta and butter next to nothing, spinach a couple more $, liquids not much more.  The truffle salt was $10 for an ounce but a little goes a long way!  Making the grand total not much more than $10 for 2 servings, and about less than 20 minutes to prepare (if you can pick a lobster as quickly as she can).

one cooked 8 oz. lobster (a wee lobster is all we get out here - they were advertised as 8 to 10 oz lobster, but wait for it, you'll see my theme here)
8 oz. pasta (I used rotini but I think linguini might be better... or on the opposite end of the spectrum, orzo or macaroni)
8 t. butter (it was more like 3 T. but in keeping with the crazy eights...)
8 oz. spinach
2 T. half and half (cream would be good too)
1 T. white wine
truffle salt to taste (I probably used a scant 1/2 t.)
freshly ground black pepper

1.  Pick the lobster, try to leave the claw meat intact.  Thinly slice the tail.
2.  Begin cooking the pasta.
3.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Wilt the spinach in the butter.
4.  Add the half and half and wine and cook down till it's a somewhat thick, saucy consistency.
5.  Add the lobster and warm.
5.  Drain the pasta and toss with the lobster-spinach, the truffle salt, and the pepper and serve.