braised swollen stems with roast potatoes and spinach

so this was pretty good. this year i went in on a csa (community supported agriculture) with one of the receptionists at work. the deal is, if you're unaware, you pay a certain amount of money to a local farm before the growing season begins to fund their efforts, and then come summer and fall you receive a share of the harvest. neither she nor i had tried it before, and it's a lot of money to put up front, months before you see the fruits (or in this case vegetables) of their labor. we chose king's hill farm because we could split a half share to see what it was like costing us each $175 (full shares run $600 and up).
our first box came sunday and contained: baby fennel, mesclun, baby spinach, asparagus, radishes, kohlrabi, rosemary, parsley and other things i'm forgetting. now i've never cooked kohlrabi before, so i read a bit online and in the joy of cooking- which both mostly said, 'kinda behaves like broccoli stalks.'
the baby fennel was very elegant looking and screamed, 'braise me.' so i decided to round out the stem theme and add some thick slices of celery. i braised my swollen stems with shallots in white wine with tarragon and fennel seed. the results were scrumptious - served with roast potatoes and sauteed garlicky baby spinach it was quite a treat.
this recipe in the quantities given worked out pretty well for one (with seconds), but i do like to eat... you might want to bulk it up a bit for more people.

• 2 shallots, quartered lengthwise
• 1 medium (baseball sized) kohlrabi, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 2 inch slices
  
• 2 stalks celery, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 baby fennel bulbs trimmed and halved, fronds reserved
• zest of one lime (lemon is probably more traditional, i only had limes)
• 1 tbs. fennel seeds, cracked
  
• generous pinch dried tarragon
• 3 tbs butter, separated
• 1 tbs olive oil
• enough white wine to come up to shoulders of the veg (i used pinot grigio), ~ 1 cup

heat 2 tbs of the butter in a sauce pan at medium high heat until starting to brown then add the shallots and the olive oil. cook 2 min. or until slightly translucent. add kohlrabi, celery, fennel, and fennel seed. cook 5-10 minutes more until slightly coloured. add wine and lime zest. lower heat and partially cover. cook 30-40 minutes until the veg is very soft and the sauce has thickened. off the heat finish with remaining butter and garnish with fennel fronds.


for the potatoes:

• as many baking potatoes as you can eat
• water
• sprig fresh rosemary
• olive oil
• squirt lemon juice (i know i said i had no lemons, this was from a bottle)
  

preheat oven to 375 f. peel the potatoes and cut them into thirds. submerge in cold water and bring to a boil. after 5 min drain and allow to steam dry. coat the pan you will be using in olive oil and heat it in the oven for 5 min while the potatoes are drying. now place the potatoes in the hot pan with the rosemary, lemon juice, and appropriate seasoning (salt, pepper), and this is the secret to good roast potatoes, as my uncle laurie says, 'you really gotta bang em around.' so every 10 minutes or so, grab the pan (with an oven mitt, please) and bang them spuds around a bit. watch for splashing oil, and in 40 min. or so you'll have perfectly coloured roast potatoes, crisp on the outside and creamy in the middle.

for the spinach

• all the baby spinach you can find (it shrinks)
• 2 cloves garlic sliced wafer thin
• olive oil

saute the garlic in the oil until fragrant then add the spinach and watch it disappear. yum.