A Cabbage Patch

It's time for something no nonsense and comforting, something humble, healthy and indisputably delicious. A good time for cabbage. White, green, purple, round, cylindrical, take your pick. They are real people food for the 99%. Best of all, cabbage is thought to be an impeccable source of protection from cancer, especially breast and colon. Its juice has anti-inflammatory power to calm ulcers. It is rich in Vitamins K, B6 and C, as well as omega fatty acids. Red cabbage has the more powerful anti-oxidants but it's coarser. 

Cabbage is famously and easily fermented into sauerkraut and kimchi, which ups its nutrients and health benefits significantly.

Two pounds of raw cabbage chops into 9-10 cups and cooks into 5-6 cups. Here are a few tasty, heartwarming ways to use one right now. Sorry about the shortage of photos.

Russian Cabbage Soup
 This is a late summer/autumn version
serves 4-6
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 med yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 sm leek, white part only, thinly sliced and washed  
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced into disks
5 c beef or bone broth
3/4-1 lb round white/green cabbage as pictured above, shredded
1/2 c sauerkraut 
1 tomato, peeled and diced
Salt and freshly ground pepper to your taste
1/3 c sour cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

In a med/lg soup pot, melt the butter. Add the onion, leek and carrot. Cook over medium heat until they just begin to soften. Do not burn or brown.  Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the cabbage, sauerkraut and tomato. Lower heat, cover and simmer just under an hour until cabbage is soft. Season with salt and pepper.

This actually tastes better served the next day but whenever you serve it, you add a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle of fresh dill to each portion.

Braised Red Cabbage

This is a northern Italian recipe I love when chill hits the air. It's in How To Fix a Leek....the book. Couldn't be easier.
Serves 6

2 tbsp olive oil & 1 tbsp butter             

1 lg onion, chopped ½ cup apple juice or cider

1½ lbs red cabbage, quartered             

1 tsp caraway seed

½ cup vegetable or chicken broth

3 garlic cloves, peeled & crushed

3 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar       

Cut cabbage lengthwise into thin strips.  Heat oil and butter over medium heat in a large heavy gauge casserole or skillet. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until onion begins to caramelize, about 8 minutes. Add caraway, and 30 seconds later cabbage. Toss until cabbage wilts. Add broth and juice, cover and simmer on low heat 20 minutes. Add vinegar, blend, cover and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes, or until cabbage is thoroughly tender. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot.

Smothered Cabbage with Sausages

This is another Italian way with cabbage, white this time.

Serves 4

2 lb white, green or savoy cabbage (round)
1 lg white onion
75g pancetta or bacon
2 tbsp olive oil
60g butter
Salt and black pepper
1–3 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 large/8 small sausages you like (Spicy Italian goes really well here.)

Discard the tough outer leaves of the cabbage, cut into quarters, cut away the tough core and then shred each quarter.  Peel and thinly slice the onion and dice the pancetta.

Put the olive oil, onion and pancetta in a large, deep frying pan or casserole (with a well-fitting lid) over a medium-low heat and cook, stirring, until the onion is soft and translucent and the pancetta has rendered its fat. Add the cabbage and turn it a few times until it is starting to wilt, then add the butter and stir again until it has melted.  Add salt, pepper and the vinegar (if you are only adding 1 or 2 tablespoons, add water to make the liquid up to 3 tablespoons), stir again then cover the pan tightly and reduce the heat to very low. Cook for an hour or more, lifting the lid and stirring every now and then, adding a little more water if the pan looks dry, until the cabbage is very tender. Check the seasoning. and serve with grilled or oven-baked sausages on top, pouring any juices over the cabbage.

Cabbage Crisp

After spending too many summers making peach, plum and rhubarb crisps, I made up this cabbage and Kashi  version for a vegetarian potluck lunch. Soft creamy cabbage sweetened by apples and raisins lurking under the hard crunch of Kashi and almonds made it a sensation. I put the recipe in Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking.  It works as the meal centerpiece, accompanied perhaps by tomato soup and a cheese platter, or served with a baked ham or roasted pork loin and a spinach salad.

Serves 6-8

1 small red cabbage, cored and shredded

½ round green or white cabbage, cored and shredded (the goal is equal amounts of the two cabbage colors)

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 large Granny Smith or other very tart apple, peeled, cored and finely diced

1 small celeriac bulb, peeled and grated (1 cup will do)

1 tsp. caraway seed

½ tsp. celery seed

½ cup raisins plumped for 10 minutes in water (optional: add ¼ tsp orange flower                water, orange juice or rose water to the water for added flavor) and drained

juice of one large lemon

¼ tsp balsamic or sherry vinegar

½ tsp salt

¾ cup sour cream

4 tbsp butter

½ cup freshly chopped dill sprigs

for the “crisp”:

1 1/2 cups Kashi 7 grain cereal

8 tbsp (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 tsp freshly minced ginger root

1/3 cup almond meal, or roasted chickpea flour

1 tbsp light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350º and get out a glass pie dish. 

Melt 4 tbsp butter in a large sauté pan. Add caraway and celery seeds and stir into the butter. Sauté onion over medium low heat until it is soft and translucent, but not brown. Add cabbages, celeriac and apple and carefully blend all ingredients. Sauté five minutes over medium low heat, until cabbage is soft.  Turn up the heat and try to make any moisture in the pan evaporate. Remove from heat. Drain off excess liquid. Add salt, lemon juice, vinegar and the drained raisins. Let the cabbage cool five minutes. Add dill and sour cream.  Blend well and put into the pie plate, smoothing the top evenly.  Leave at least 1/3-1/2” at the top of the pan for the “crisp.”

To prepare the crisp, cut butter into tablespoon size chunks and put it in a food processor with all other ingredients except for the slivered almonds. Using the pulse button three or four times, get the butter to stick in clumps of Kashi.

Dump the mix into a bowl, add the almonds and use your hands to make clumps. You will still have some loose and dry ingredients. Spread the clumps evenly over the top of the cabbage and fill in with the loose powder. Be careful to extend to the edges to seal the cabbage juices in underneath. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until the top is browned and the cabbage is boiling up the sides of the dish. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Tibetan Cabbage and Pork Stir Fry (Logo Petse tang Sha) 

Serves 4

1 carrot, peeled, halved then each half halved again and cut into small pieces

1/2 sm round cabbage, not purple, shredded

1 lb boneless pork loin, cut into 1" cubes

1 tbsp corn, canola, sunflower or mustard oil

1 sm onion, diced

1 tsp paprika

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 jalapeno or 1 serrano chili, diced

1" fresh ginger root, peeled and grated

1 sm red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced lengthwise in strips

Salt

Optional: Freshly chopped cilantro for garnish

In a wok or sauté pan, start to heat oil over high heat and stir in the paprika, garlic, ginger and chili. Cook just until onions start to brown. Add the pork and stir-fry 3-5 minutes until it's thoroughly cooked. Add carrots and stir fry 1 minute. Add cabbage, blend and stir-fry 2 minutes more. Blend in the red bell pepper and season with salt to your taste. Remove from heat and serve with a sprinkling of freshly chopped cilantro.