Is kohlrabi still cool? I first discovered the vegetable when we opened Aniar 11 years ago. Of course, this coolness arose out of the fact that Noma, the hyperlocal Danish restaurant, had championed it in so many dishes.
Little did I know that Florence Irwin, a champion of local Irish food in the 1940s, had included a beetroot and kohlrabi salad in her 1949 cookbook The Cookin’ Woman: Irish Country Recipes. I recommend it for anyone interested in Irish food. You can get a hardback copy online for €50 or a paperback for as little as €5.
What I love about her book is that it combines a love of food with an interest in ethnography (the study of culture). It’s also an amazing historical record of Irish food in the middle of the 20th century.
Florence Irwin’s beetroot and kohlrabi salad
I adapted this recipe and it appeared in my own Irish Cook Book. Peel and slice two kohlrabi and two beetroot on a mandolin. Do the kohlrabi first as then you won’t have to rinse the mandolin. If you don’t have a mandolin, just slice as thinly as possible with a good chef’s knife. Chop into strips and lightly salt, leaving in a colander for five to 10 minutes.
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Give the vegetables a light squeeze and rinse and transfer to a large salad bowl. Irwin’s original recipe includes watercress, of which there is much growing wild. However, any herb will do, from parsley to tarragon or basil. Chop the herb and add to the beetroot and kohlrabi.
For the dressing, just do it by eye: cold pressed rapeseed oil, honey, apple cider vinegar and a little sea salt. Toss the whole lot together and dress with some note herbs. You can also add grated cheese to the salad if you wish. A nice smoked cheese would do the job, such as Gubbeen or Knockanore. Moreover, a dollop of sour cream or natural yoghurt will elevate the salad to greater heights.
With the good weather upon us, this salad would work wonderfully with barbecued fish and meat.
