This menu was a pinch more challenging as I had to incorporate the little-known vegetable, kohlrabi. I was inspired to use the kohlrabi when they unexpectedly made their way from Tony's parents garden to his fridge over Fourth of July weekend. For those of you who don't know what a Kohlrabi is- here's the Wikipedia page (I had no idea what it was before meeting this kid either). It is a very crunchy, root vegetable, which can be cooked or served raw.
The menu: Grilled Mint Lamb and a Shaved Kohlrabi, Fennel with Orange Salad
I found the recipe here. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm not really interested in complicating things (just yet) so, I present to you my adaptation. While daydreaming the other day in my cube, I decided that I'm going to try to keep to posting about measureless recipes. My one recommendation for this salad is to shave the fennel and kohlrabi. I gave up on shaving the vegetables halfway through, resorting to chopping and grating. In the end the shaved pieces tasted worlds better than their alternates. Isn't it funny how textures can influence your opinions on taste? Like the kohlrabies I have feeling a mandolin will magically appear one day in our kitchen...
I also didn't make the dressing they recommended, I went the traditional route adding salt, pepper and olive oil. There was a enough juice from the oranges to give it some tang.
Shaved Kohlrabi, Fennel with Orange Salad, the gist was:
- shaved kohlrabi's
- shaved fennel
- oranges
- evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
- salt and pepper
As for the lamb, I ad hoc'ed this recipe too. I don't remember eating a lot of lamb growing up, most likely because it's more expensive than other meats. I had watched Tony make it once before by slicing the middle and stuffing mint into it. Which is exactly what I did with mint from the garden. I couldn't figure out how to smush the garlic the way the recipe called for. So, I added stuffed whole garlic cloves in with the mint before adding the sauce/marinade and a final coat of minced garlic. Feel free to offer your garlic tricks in comments (link is to the right), they are much appreciated.
Grilled Mint Lamb
Step 1: Stuff the Lamb with
- mint and garlic cloves
Step 2: Rub with garlic
Step 3: Marinate in a sauce of
- evoo
- red pepper flakes
- diced mint leaves
Step 4: Throw on the BBQ
- cook until medium/medium rare
We ended the night with some Bruce Springsteen to honor the red, white and blue. Isn't that album cover killer?!