I don't usually buy cabbage, because there is just so damn much of it once you buy it, and because it doesn't actually taste that good. But, it's cheap, and relatively nutritious, and I was at Whole Foods (aka Whole paycheck), and needed more veggies without breaking the bank, so I bought a cabbage. One of the relatively small, light green ones.
The first thing I tried was stir frying it with a bunch of other veggies, but that wasn't exactly exciting. And that only used up half of it. I looked around at recipes for cabbage, but it seems that usually it's used as a filler, no surprise there. So I decided to go my usual vegetable route - apply heat, olive oil, and salt, and see what happens. What happened was actually pretty good, with brown bits and flavor. I'm not sure I'd recommend this for anything other than using up cabbage, because while it tasted perfectly fine, it was hardly exciting. Maybe if you had a delicious sauce to pour over the top, or if you were on some sort of cabbage diet. Or if you just really like cabbage - the overall flavor was "cabbage", which actually reminded me of most brassicaceae, like brussels sprouts, which I love. So, maybe I'll try this again, we'll see...
Cabbage Wedges
Made 4 wedges, depending on how much you like cabbage that would be good for 1 - 4 people
1/2 head of savoy cabbage
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Cut the cabbage into wedges, leaving the stem on, to hold the leaves together. Heat some oil in a frying pan, medium-ish heat. Put in the cabbage wedges, and salt the upper side. Let them sit there for about five minutes, until they're looking nice and golden brown on the bottom. Flip, and salt the upper side (which hasn't had salt yet). Let them sit there for another 5-10 minutes, until the stems are nice and soft if you poke them with a fork. You can flip and keep cooking if you like them to be softer, I guess I like my veggies to have a bit of a bite.
Serve as is, or with a sauce of some sort. The flavor is pretty neutral, and the texture is fairly smooth, with some crunch. Not actually all that bad, considering that it's cabbage...
I guess I was feeling Irish today. Or something like that.
1 comment:
When my mother cooks cabbage, she either sautes it thinly sliced with shrimp, fish sauce, a bit of egg, and maybe some garlic to serve over rice or she'll make a simple soup from it (chicken broth/water, thin-sliced cabbage, shrimp, fish sauce, scallions). Another prep I like is making a Vietnamese chicken salad with it, kinda like cole slaw except with a Viet flavor. Thinly sliced cabbage, rice vinegar, fish sauce or soy sauce, some scallions, poached and shredded chicken, and the kicker: Vietnamese rau ram or Thai basil!
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