Battle 9 - Kohlrabi and Rosemary

Congrats to all the competitors this week for really owning the ingredients. Trying new stuff is what this site is all about, and everyone went above and beyond my expectations! Here are the submissions.

AGA Kitchen: Arborio & Rosemary Crusted Kohlrabi Cakes

The Culinary Image: Pan Seared Opah with Kohlrabi 3 ways

Felice in the Kitchen: Cold Kohlrabi Mousse

South Bay Foodies - Rosemary and Orange Brined Pork Chops, Ensalada Blanca with Kohlrabi, Jicama, and White Peach with Honey Lime Dressing, Rosemary Mojito

Well Fed Man: Kohlrabi stuffed with Curry Spelt and Seasonal Vegetables

There has been a slight discrepency with the judges, so this post will be updated later with more information on that. For now, there is the usual judge of last week’s winner, My Boyfriend likes it so it Must be good.

UPDATE: the special guest judge this week is BS from the popular website Endless Simmer

Please check out all the creations and place your vote! Be sure to check back on tursday to see the results.

Results

The Judges and public were all VERY split on this decision. These types of battles are my favorite cause that means everyone did so well, it was hard to choose a favorite! And now a word from our judges

———————————————————————————

Brendan “BS” from Endless Simmer

Like many of you, my first thought upon reading this week’s foodie fight was: eff me, I’ve never even tasted kohlrabi, much less worked with it. So you can take my praise/criticism with a grain of salt. I am, however, extremely talented at drooling over food photos and blog posts, so here goes.

Winner: Felice in the Kitchen. (+300)

As I said, I know nothing about Kohlrabi, and to be honest, it doesn’t look so great. A bulbous German cabbage-radish thing with weird odds and ends? A great idea for a food challenge, but I’m not sure I’m going to be ordering it anytime soon. So one of my main criteria here was: which blogger made me most interested in trying kohlrabi? And that title definitely goes to Felice. She really embraced the weirdness of the kohlrabi and made it into something I want to taste. I’m not certain if I would love her mousse, but I’m dying to know what it tastes like. I like her plating on the greens, but I am wondering how this is eaten – is it spread on crackers or just eating in bites on a fork? Regardless, very creative idea.

Runner-up: The Culinary Image. (+100)

Hot damn, that is some Top Chef-quality plating. The heirloom tomato kohlrabi triangles look absolutely beautiful, although I wonder if they would fall apart when you try to eat them. Padma might bitch about that.

I love that you made use of the whole plant here, and the orange braised kohlrabi greens sound amazing. Great instructional blogging – even though all of these elements look really intense, I now feel I could give each of them a try at home, and that rosemary aioli looks like a keeper for future dishes.

Honorable Mention (am I allowed to do that?): South Bay Foodies

Mouthwatering. The rosemary mojito is a fantastic idea and these are some of the best photos of the bunch. If you’ll let me get up on my Top Chef high horse for another moment here, I think your only mistake was making a plate where both the kohlrabi and the rosemary were supporting players instead of stars. Now if you had spread some kohlrabi mousse on top of that pork chop…

Peggy from My Boyfriend Likes it so it Must be Good

This was definitely a tough battle. I saw the two ingredients posted, and like everyone else, I was like “what the heck is Kohlrabi?” So with a little google research, I discovered that Kohlrabi didn’t sound have bad and was definitely manageable. I’m very impressed that everyone was able to find the ingredient and not substitute, I commend you all on that. And you all definitely used it in differing ways. So on to my critiques…

AGA Kitchen: your dish reminded me of something I would want to come home to after a bad day. It looked like really great comfort food. The cake looked delicate, yet well put together. The butter sauce with it’s extra spiciness of the jalapeno is definitely something I want to try… on EVERYTHING.

Culinary Image: your dish had so many beautiful components. I applaud you for each individual one and the major creativity that went on there, but I really think the dish didn’t really come together as a whole for me. I can see how the Opah and the Kohlrabi sticks could go together (kind of like a “fish and chips” sort fo thing), but the tomato and kohlrabi triangles just threw everything off for me. I just didn’t think they belonged.

Felice In the Kitchen: I appreciate that you really thought way out of the box for this one. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very appealing to me. It just looked like a big gelatinous box. Maybe some people are into the savory mouse type deal, and on occasion I am too, but you just didn’t sell this one to me. You really did spotlight the two main ingredients, but just not in a way that I would want them to be.

South Bay Foodies: Now, I’m a really big sucker for a pork chop. This looked absolutely amazing, and definitely something I will have to whip up in the near future because I’ve been dying to have a good chop. I thought the salad was ingenious because it’s a surprise in every bite. I know a lot of people that nit pick at a salad and only eat the ingredients that they like, but with this salad, that was practically impossible and I liked that. Good job.

Well Fed Man: You really used the Kohlrabi in a creative way by making use of it as a bowl. I love curry and this dish sounded delicious. I usually like meat in my curry, but you made the dish sound so good with all the other delicious aspects of it, that I just may have to overlook the fact that there’s no meat and go with it. And I’m sure I wouldn’t be disappointed.

So after all that, I’m sorry that the 6th person wasn’t able to get a dish in or whatnot, but I have to make a decision.

I narrowed it down to 3. AGA Kitchen, South Bay Foodies, and Well Fed Man. I had to really think of what I would really want to eat. Visually speaking, South Bay Foodies looked amazing. I sat there drooling over that pork chop for a good 10 minutes. But AGA Kitchen and Well Fed Man just elegantly wrote about there food and had me drooling as well.

So after sitting in a pool of saliva I had to decide…

Well Fed Man (+300) takes the cake for me. I just couldn’t let the curry take anything but 1st place. Definitely something I’m going to try soon, if I can nab a kohlrabi.

And 2nd place for me would have to be South Bay Foodies (+100) (if 2nd place counts for anything), I just couldn’t resist the pork chop and will try that in the near future also.

Congrats to everyone and remember to keep eating, keep drinking, and keep smiling!

————————————————————————————

Final Results

Winner: Felice in the Kitchen: Cold Kohlrabi Mousse 300+26=326

Runner-Up: Well Fed Man: Kohlrabi stuffed with Curry Spelt and Seasonal Vegetables 300+10 = 310

South Bay Foodies : Rosemary and Orange Brined Pork Chops, Ensalada Blanca 100+35 = 135

The Culinary Image : Pan Seared Opah with Kohlrabi 3 ways 100+9 = 109

AGA Kitchen : Arborio & Rosemary Crusted Kohlrabi Cakes 30

Who won battle Kohlrabi and Rosemary?(trends)

Congrats to all the competitors and thanks to the judges! Think you can do better? Sign up for the next battle! also be sure to check out the rankings in the hall of fame.