Cabbage and Kohlrabi Salad

The trip to the farmers’ market in the early morning on the weekends is invigorating and filled with great anticipation. You never know what you’ll find and what you’ll bring home. There is no shopping list on hand. I’d buy the seasonal best ingredients, and the least expensive, that appeal and intrigue. Then work my menu around them. I found these beautiful purple kohlrabi piled high in one of the stands the other day that I simply couldn’t ignore. It’s shiny, colorful with a smooth surface that invites touching — too perfect and adorable to be made into food. They honestly looked like garden ornaments. I inquired about it and bought a few with no idea what I’d do with them. Bought purely on impulse and felt good about it!

Serendipitously, I found this cabbage and kohlrabi salad recipe on Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty. He said, “I think I have found the absolute best use for a kohlrabi. It is wonderfully fresh-tasting, with a good lemony kick and some sharp sweetness. You may end up going looking for kohlrabi, and it isn’t very easy to find.”

Somehow my food journey is like meandering along some winding roads with unexpected twists and turns. Many times, it feels as if the invisible knowledgeable hands are guiding me through the maze. Random finds and delicious meals are there waiting to be discovered. No lines, no reservations. Merely open the door and take a seat at the table. Not quite. More like: put on the apron and start cooking.