Judging from the number of storage cabbages left at the end of last Friday’s distribution, a few of you have a little more cabbage in your life than you know what to do with. Me, too. We had a bumper crop of storage cabbage this year – big, hefty, beautiful heads of sweet cabbage. I’ve been learning new ways of preparing cabbage and have found a couple of recipes that I think you might like.
Cabbage and Carmalized Onion Tart
Colcannon This is a recent discovery. Really simple to prepare and really tasty.
Here’s a recipe from Rupa, one of our summer shareholders. It is delicious!
Simple Indian Cabbage
1 medium head cabbage
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
2 small green chillies – chopped – you can add more or less based on how hot you want it.
1 tbsp cilantro leaves.
Salt to taste
Shred the cabbage like you would for cole slaw.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin and let it fry for a minute. Add the chillies and then add the cabbage, turmeric and salt. Lightly stir for a few minutes until the cabbage is tender, do not over cook the cabbage. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves.
Eat it with Indian bread or rice as a side for a meat or chicken curry.
Do please share your cabbage recipes!
I love making deconstructed stuffed cabbage using ground turkey. I modify Ina Garten’s recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/stuffed-cabbage-recipe/index.html
Basically, I shred the cabbage and lay it raw at the bottom of a large casserole dish.
Cook the rice.
Cook the “filling” mixture.
Cook the sauce.
Mix the rice with the meat.
Mix the rice and meat with the sauce.
Dump the meat/rice/sauce mixture over the raw cabbage.
Bake in the oven at 350 for maybe half an hour until the cabbage looks soft.
Kind of a lot of pots going at once but way easier than rolling individual cabbage rolls. Uses more cabbage too. Tastes the same. All going to the same place
Michelle
From shareholder Marie Barry: I’d like to share a cabbage recipe I’ve been using since 1996. It came from a King Arthur Baking Sheet (along with other winter soups) from a professional cook from Montreal, Marcy Goldman. It is a very large soup but absolutely wonderful and filling. It is also authentic and vegetarian. It comes from “The Baking Sheet” Vol. VII, No. 4 March-April, 1996, page 17-18. I know it is long, but it is so delicious.
Russian Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup
This soup, which can have a terrific or mild kick to it, depending on the cook’s taste, is truly satisfying. I serve it with a large, dense black bread, and “muffins” made of potato latke or potato pancake batter; just use the same batter of shredded potatoes and eggs, but ladle it into non-stick muffin cups, bake until golden and crisp and eat, out of hand, with the soup. [Please read all the way through this recipe before beginning, as there are various choices you can make along the path, and we’d like to tell you about the choices we made here, while testing the recipe one cold, snowy day. — Ed.]
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 medium cabbage (2 to 2 1/2 pounds), finely shredded
2 small-to-medium onions (4 1/2 ounces), thinly sliced and minced
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 large carrot (4 ounces), thinly sliced and minced
1 cup (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup (1 3/4 to 3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
10 cups (80 ounces) water, or more as required
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
8-ounce can tomato sauce
4 tablespoons tomato paste (or 2 tablespoons tomato powder)
1 to 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 teaspoon caraway seed powder
1 to 2 tablespoons salt, to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon black pepper
1 to 2 teaspoons “sour salt” (citric acid)
In a large stock pot, melt the margarine or butter with the oil over medium heat. Sauté the cabbage, onions, garlic and carrots with the sugars until softened and a light gold in color, about 15 minutes. If you want to avoid the fat, omit this step and simply add all of the ingredients to the pan at once.
Stir in the water, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste or powder, caraway seeds, caraway seed powder, salt, black pepper, and citric acid. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer it for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Adjust the seasonings, adding additional sugar, salt, citric acid and/or caraway seeds for a more piquant, sweet and sour taste. Serve the soup with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt, and a garnish of parsley and caraway seeds. The perfect bread accompaniment is a black Russian rye or pumpernickel (see our November, 1995 Baking Sheet for just such a yummy dark pumpernickel). Yield: 12 cups, about 12 servings.
EDITOR’s NOTES:
Marcy gives a range of ingredients, we used the following:
1/4 cup granulated sugar (use the greater amount of sugar if you also use the greater amount of sour salt); 1 tablespoon caraway seeds; 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon pepper; and 3/4 teaspoon sour salt, which made a very mildly sour soup. For those of you who like a significant sour “bite,” use more. If you don’t have or don’t want to use sour salt, you may substitute 1/4 to 1/2 cup lemon juice. This sourness, by the way, is in keeping with the soup’s ethnic tradition, so don’t be afraid to go heavy on the flavor; it’s authentic.
•If you don’t have caraway seed powder, grind a heaping teaspoon of caraway seeds in your spice or coffee mill, being careful to clean the machine thoroughly after use (unless you enjoy caraway-flavored coffee…)
•We prepared the cabbage using the fine shredding disk of a food processor, while we used the same machine, equipped with the metal blade, to mince the onions, garlic and carrot.
•We use tomato powder in place of tomato paste in many recipes, simply because it’s easier to use; no can to open, no leftover paste to store. Also, Marcy’s recipe called for a 10-ounce can of cream of tomato soup, and we substituted an 8-ounce can of tomato sauce; use what you’ve got on hand.
Nutrition information per serving (1 cup, 431g): 165 cal, 1.9g fat, 2g protein, 14g complex carbohydrates, 21g sugar, 5g dietary fiber, 1076mg sodium, 684mg potassium, 365RE vitamin A, 63mg vitamin C, 2mg iron, 107mg calcium, 71mg phosphorus.
I’ve made this very simple Greek cabbage salad with feta a couple times and enjoyed it.
http://www.culinate.com/recipes/collections/Culinate+Kitchen/Salads/Greek+Cabbage+Salad