Kohlrabi in Rahmsauce

In my grandmother Eva's kitchen in Kent, I learned that Austrian cooking doesn't hide its vegetables behind complicated sauces. It respects them. Kohlrabi in Rahmsauce is a perfect example. You peel a kohlrabi, slice it thin, simmer it gently in a little stock, and finish it in a cream sauce so light it barely coats the spoon. That's the whole dish. The kohlrabi tastes like kohlrabi. The sauce is there to carry the flavor, not replace it.

Gretel always said this was the kind of cooking that separates a good Austrian kitchen from a careless one. The technique is an Einbrenn, the Austrian roux, made with butter and a little flour, loosened with stock and finished with cream. Every Austrian home cook knows how to make an Einbrenn. It's the base of half the vegetable dishes in the country, from Spinat to Fisolen to this kohlrabi. Get the Einbrenn right and you can dress any vegetable in the house.

I serve this at my restaurant in Salzburg alongside Tafelspitz and roast pork, but it's just as good next to a simple pan-fried cutlet on a Tuesday night. Look for young, small kohlrabi if you can find them. They should feel heavy for their size and the skin should be smooth, not woody. If the leaves are still attached and look fresh, that's a good sign. A woody kohlrabi will fight you no matter how long you cook it. A young one practically melts into the sauce.