A couple years ago, when the first kohlrabi globes appeared in my CSA box, I didn’t know what to make of them, either.

One coworker suggested to boil and mash them with carrots. I did that. Not bad. Someone else advised roasting and smashing. I did that, too—and liked the resulting sweetness a little more. But most times, kohlrabi was showing up in the spring, when I wasn’t really in the mood for a lot of starchy, mashed potatoe-y things. So I started messing around with raw preparations. Slaws, mostly. Cool. Refreshing. With the snappy, watery crunch of jicama or celery root. Now you’re talking.

For awhile, I was dedicated to a riff on Waldorf salad that mixed thinly sliced kohlrabi and apples, and then I uncovered an old post from the Crisper Whisperer at Serious Eats. Variations on their Kohlrabi Remoulade are now solidly in my spring rotation, and I made one Monday night to have with some leftovers from Sunday’s cookout.

That used up two of the stems I got in last week’s box; I’m saving the third for a pickling session later this week.

Kohlrabi remoulade

adapted from Serious Eats

• 2 medium kohlrabi stems
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (yeah, I just used Hellmann’s – so what?)
• 1 tsp whole grain mustard (bonus points: I did make the mustard myself )
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp Champagne vinegar
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1/4 tsp salt
• fresh-ground black pepper
• 2 tsps chopped tarragon

Peel the thick outer layers from the kohlrabi stems. If you’re fussy about uniformity, use the Julienne blade of a mandoline or a big-gauge box grater to hack up the stems. My knuckles aren’t big fans of graters, and I was too lazy to get out the step stool to rescue my mandoline from the top shelf just for two little knobs of kohlrabi, so I just cut them up into matchsticks using a very sharp knife.

Peel the garlic and then smoosh it into a paste with the salt in a mortar and pestle.

Whisk together the mayo, mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic/salt paste, pepper, and tarragon. Add the shredded kohlrabi, and toss to coat.

Serves 2-3, depending on how big the kohlrabi are. The leftovers were great the next day on a turkey sandwich.