Dear Kay,
First of all, a giant thank you to everybody! We are heartened to see that we are not the only people who are willing to stop, drop, and color pictures of knitting. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, yesterday we launched A Coloring Book for Knitters, and it’s now sitting atop the Amazon knitting bestseller list. Such a wonderful surprise.
In Other News, Cabbage
Meanwhile, I have been worrying about cabbage. In a moment of optimism in September, I signed up for the Delvin Farms Fall CSA Program. A half bushel of organic, deeply Whole30-compliant goodness every other week for eight weeks. Not exactly a side of beef; not a challenging amount of vegetables, I thought.
I was doing OK until the cabbage turned up. It was the size of a hubcap, as dense as a bowling ball, a weapon if a toddler were to drop it on your foot. GOOD LORD, this thing should have won a ribbon at the state fair. It arrived right before Thanksgiving, and despite two batches of slaw and gnawing on the thing, it persisted.
The next box, two weeks later, had not one but two cabbages in it.
I mean: they were the most beautiful, photogenic cruciferous vegetables I’d ever seen. I took a portrait of them, I was so moved:
But I still had half of the pre-Thanksgiving bowling ball cabbage still in the hopper. In desperation, I turned to Twitter for help with this, and soon had a number of what sounded like sincere endorsements for this vegetable I had never in my life cooked in any serious way.
I almost wept with gratitude for these suggestions. Going for simplicity, I started with this:
Venetian verze sofegae (suffocated cabbage). So simple, so delicious. Not cabbagey at all. http://www.mammasantissima.com/ricette/ricette/contorni/verze/verzesofegae.html …
It was exactly as Jen says: so simple, so delicious. Not cabbagey at all. Stunning, really: Hubbo and I ate an entire cabbage between the two of us. It wasn’t even hard to do. We were sad when it was gone.
I list the suggestions here so I can come back and make every single one of them. We are now hardcore cabbage converts. Thanks to you all for a brilliant shortlist.
I love Bittman’s braised cabbage with balsamic and garlic. I could eat that every night.
My current lunch is @smittenkitchen‘s cabbage, dates, & feta. Delicious! Also entire Polish canon: bigos, kapusta, golumki…
Quick kimchi!! I can’t get enough of the stuff!
Cabbage rolls!
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2006/01/tender-is-cabbage.html …
Slice thin, add rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and ginger, bit o brown sugar and dried cranberries. Toss.
We love Coleslaw in this house! Plus you can freeze it without the mayo and pull it out for burger night or pulled pork…
Kimchee!!!!
Colcannon — mashed potatoes with cabbage and bacon. Surprisingly good!
@JenniferPerillo http://injennieskitchen.com has an awesome apple cabbage salad!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/196732/fried-cabbage-with-bacon-onion-and-garlic/ …
My mother used to cut it into wedges, drizzle with oil, then wrap in foil and bake. But you gotta love cabbage.
Stuffed cabbage. So good, can be done in slow cooker.
Again, my thanks to all you cabbage defenders. You are so, so right.
Love,
Ann
Colcannon (Susan Poulter) is indeed delicious. Even without bacon. DELICIOUS. Make it at once.
And if you add cheese colcannon becomes Rumbledethumps. It is So. Yummy. :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumbledethumps
Yes! Yes! Colcannon!
Always looking for good cabbage recipes! Under my “strange but delicious” category is an unnamed dish by a former roommate: cabbage ribboned and sautéed in butter, near the end mix in some sauerkraut (!), add to a bowl of buttered skinny egg noodles, sprinkle liberally with poppyseeds and stir. It contains cabbage two ways, which always feels weird to me, but it’s really tasty and filling on a “no-meat” or “stretch the paycheck” night. And if you make your own sauerkraut (Pinterest, baby!) you’ve used up even more cabbage.
Ann,
The subject of the humble cabbage always brings to my mind Kaffe Fassett. It’s his needlepoint design depicting a lush, beautiful cabbage. Gorgeous!
LoveDiane
I made up a recipe we called Irish Bavarian moussaka! Blanch sliced or shredded cabbage, fry sliced potatoes (can parboil first) with onions and caraway seeds. Layer in a casserole dish, pouring a little bechamel sauce between layers and plenty on top. Bake in the oven til lightly browned. Nice with sausages.
Enjoy!
I’m with Elizabeth on this one…I first made colcannon for a St. Patrick’s Day party…people couldn’t get enough of it… so delicious!!!
From my childhood (Kay might have known these), Cabbage Burgers/Krautburgers/Runza. They freeze beautifully into homemade ‘Hot Pockets’ of a healthier nature. But if you’re grain-free then probably not for you, although the filling usually gets snacked on by the cook. Recipe available if you would like, as well as the 500 on the web. 😉
I doled out a quarter of a raw cabbage to my goats last night because my fridge was full. This may not work for everyone.
Grateful guests. My cats absolutely do not enjoy cabbage. They are so not game. For anything. Ever.
I think you are forgetting their contribution to blocking!
Really? Cole slaw for pulled pork sandwich.
Yay hooray! So glad you enjoyed it!
We love cabbage- Stir fry with garlic and ginger with a splooch of soy and/or fish sauce, add the protein of your choice. A garlic soup with a little parmesan and white beans… Saurkraut…
Also, you can make kraut. The homemade stuff tastes way better than the crap we are used to from the grocery store. And, it is really good for your tum. Basically all you do is shred it, add salt and water and put it in jars but you can Google for a more detailed recipe. The stuff ferments and lasts forever!
Thank you! I’ve got half a cabbage in the crisper–Verze Sofegae is on the menu tonight to go with last weekend’s leftover grilled drumsticks. I’m keeping your list, we’ll work our way through winter fueled by cabbage. I love the stuff.
We never have leftover drumsticks in our house, no matter how many we cook. We give them a dry rub and grill them, and then they’re just so darn tasty that we gobble them all up at one sitting.
Numa sandwich!
Corned beef and cabbage. It’s a classic for good reasons. Delicious in itself (be sure to put carrots in the pot along with the potatoes and cabbage), delicious leftovers (corned beef hash, yum! – include all the remaining cabbage and carrots, not just meat and spuds), and utterly easy to cook.
Make your own fermented Sauerkraut. This freaks some people out, but trust me the results are delicious. My husband and I make several batches over the winter (we can each one, and when we’re down to the last jar, start the next batch). Then use it to make choucroute garnie.
Quick! Try some everlasting slaw before the cabbage season ends…this stuff uses up a cabbage or two fast and lasts a good long time (months?!) in the refrigerator door, just waiting to be put on sandwiches (reuben, for instance), or with baked beans, or hot dogs, or just as a side. The tumeric makes all the difference–keeps it looking nice forever. (I’ve tried it both ways.) This is some good stuff. Enjoy!
http://tylerfarmhomestead.blogspot.ca/2008/07/summer-harvest-continues.html
My mother would make Danish Brun Kaal (brown cabbage) every Christmas Eve. Simple; brown a heap of sliced cabbage in butter, add a bit of water if needed, some sugar and cook down covered for an hour or more. Taste and add salt and more sugar if needed. The smell brings me right back to home. Thanks for all the good ideas!
I am always on a deadline, it seems, but cabbage doesn’t respect that and invades the fridge anyway. To keep it from spoiling, here’s what I do.
Wash, slice about an inch thick, lay slices in roasting pan. Optional if you have extra 30 seconds – salt, pepper, oil in the pan.
Roast at about 350 about a half hour. Turn it once, and take it out when it looks brown enough for you.
Yummy and sweet – chop to add to soup, have it straight for dieter’s lunch, or it keeps forever in the fridge.
Cabbage Envy. I need those cabbages, I have none. Lucky.
Cabbage Rolls! Blanched leaves stuffed with ground meat/rice/onion/herbs/seasoning, smothered with tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, baked in a covered roasting pan for a couple of hours until the top almost starts to scorch at the edges. A Middle European/Saskatchewan Homesteader sort of recipe. Served with buttermilk mashed potatoes (or homemade perogies) and roasted carrots. One of my most favorite things to eat. I plant a six pack of cabbage seedlings every year so I can make a few batches of Cabbage Rolls in the fall. Still a couple of pans in the freezer to heat up for a super cozy winter supper. Leftovers can be eaten all week for quick lunches or easy suppers (or breakfast – see SIL below)
The one thing my SIL (who has everything, and buys whatever she wants) requests for Birthday gifts are cabbage rolls.
I know what we are having for Christmas Eve dinner.
Any kind of cabbage salad/slaw. The more hippy-ish the better (seeds, raisins, apples, carrots, broccoli, cider vinegar, etc)
Homemade sauerkraut and kimchi too…I agree. A pastrami sandwich with homemade caraway sauerkraut, or a kimchi hotdog – check out Maangchi’s recipe for Kimchi Dogs as well as her kimchi recipes.
http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-hot-dog
Cheers,
Trevor
My inner German and Austrian ancestors salute you! More cabbage!
Try Mahur Jaffrey’s cabbage. It’s fast, uses a lot of cabbage, and super flavorful. Also, low calorie.
http://food52.com/recipes/20448-madhur-jaffrey-s-stir-fried-cabbage-with-fennel-seeds
I was going to suggest this, and here’s another link that’s awfully similar: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/153-stir-fried-cabbage-with-cumin-seeds I ate this on top of rice a lot when my husband was in grad school and we had very little money.
I haven’t had the nerve to try this yet: http://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef/2013/09/andr%C3%A9-heimanns-hungarian-cabbage-strudel.html
Here is how my mother made cabbage. Cut up cabbage as you would for cole slaw. Saute in bacon grease until wilted. Cover with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Simmer until tender. Crumble up bacon over the top if there is any bacon left from earlier frying. You will notice that there are little bubbles of bacon fat across the top of the cabbage. This is good. Not because it tastes at all porky, but just soul satisfying. Serve in little side dishes with a spoon for each.
I just came across this recipe which contains, as you say, “deeply Whole30-compliant goodness!” It has the fresh sauerkraut—made by you, from your endlesscabbage—that others have mentioned, plus dried cranberries to make it winter-and-holiday festive!
https://nicholsgardennursery.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/sauerkraut-salad/
2 cups fresh sauerkraut, drained
1 apple, chopped & unpeeled
1 /2 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons or more parsley
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preparation: Mix the above ingredients and it’s ready to serve. Any leftovers will keep one to two days under refrigeration. Don’t add salt until you have tasted as sauerkraut contains a good amount of salt.
My Oct/Nov issue of Fine Cooking got buried on the coffee table, just surfaced and there, starting on p. 78, two-page spread of lovely cabbage heads with the title, “Beyond Slaw.”
My favorite way to eat purple cabbage is to make a salad of it, with cilantro, thin apple slices, jalapeno, peanuts, olive oil, lime juice, and salt and pepper. It would probably work with yours just as well. A small orange citrus version with sesame oil also works.
WELL. In my opinion, nobody loves and respects cabbage like Molly Wizenberg; she’s my go-to every winter, when I get enthusiastic about the crucifers. (Last week, I bought two whole cabbages and finished both of them. I live alone, you guys.)
I see her Braised Green Cabbage With Carrots and Onions noted in the post (you may eventually get tired of it–just add a bunch of hot sauce, or don’t be a hero and just freeze some); she also has Marcella Hazan’s Smothered Cabbage and Rice Soup (http://orangette.net/2013/12/approximately-a-soup/), Cabbage with Hot Sauce (http://orangette.net/2009/01/the-best-we-can-hope-for/), and a fancy Savoy Cabbage Gratin (http://orangette.net/2008/11/out-of-love/). Plus others.
She’s really into cabbage. It’s great.