We love cabbage. Let us count the ways: it’s cheap, it’s tasty, it’s versatile, it keeps forever, it’s really good for you—and by the way did we say cheap, cheap, cheap? In our book we give you our grandma’s recipe for sweet and sour cabbage soup that’s THE to-die-for yummy antidote to the chill of a cold winter night. Don’t worry we’ll share some of our cabbage secrets even if you haven’t bought the book yet. (That doesn’t sound very sexy, does it? Oh well—what do you want from a vegetable that’s not a cucumber?)
Cabbage may be the best vegetable bargain on the shelf. Spicy and crunchy raw. Sweet and savory sauteed in butter and transformed into the perfect companion for a romantic bistro-style chicken dinner. The seductive aroma of cabbage stuffed with meat and rice (or rice alone), slowly simmered in tomatoes, cinnamon, tamarin and ginger will bring passing strangers to your door. And as the backbone of a soup, whether our grandma’s or a hearty minestrone, it’s filling and packs a flavor punch. We even have a killer recipe for pasta sauce. (Stay tuned in the coming weeks we’ll fill you in on how to make these yummy dishes.)
In our crisper, cabbage seems to last forever and a day. Great to have on hand for those nights when you can’t think about one more trip out to the store. And it’s unbelievably healthy. According to the USDA ½ cup of cabbage (a serving) is loaded with 45% of your daily Vitamin C needs, 8% dietary fiber, 2% iron, 20 calories, 0 fat, 0 transfat, 0 cholesterol.
One evening last week, in the midst of one of those who’s-going-to-deal-with-dinner discussions, we spied that cheap, gorgeous, underappreciated head in the back of the fridge. Glancing around the kitchen, inspiration struck and we grabbed that perfect globe and got to work.
Fresh cilantro and spearmint from the garden filled jam jars on the window sill; a couple limes; a red onion; rice wine vinegar; sesame oil; soy sauce; honey; olive oil (only because we were out of peanut oil) all called out to us.
We finely shredded the cabbage head; transformed ½ of the onion into paper thin slices; chopped huge handfuls of mint and cilantro; then tossed all these together in a big bowl. Then we squeezed 1/3 cup of lime juice into a glass jar and added 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, ¼ cup of oil, several generous dashes of toasted sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon honey and salt and pepper to taste. (We do like our salt and pepper). After vigorously shaking the dressing we tossed the cabbage and let it rest for half an hour. Our advice if you try this on your own—adjust the ingredients to suit your taste and the size of the cabbage head. We loved the acidic lime tang of our dressing mixing with the herbs and cabbage, you may like yours with a little more oil, a little more honey or even with a crushed clove of garlic. No rules. It all depends on the size of those balls and your taste buds. Go crazy, ladies.
We heaped our lime and cilantro cabbage slaw on one side of an old pink floral plate (a favorite flea-market find) and generously heaped slices of simply grilled chicken breast on the other side. We gave a handful of peanuts a whirl in the baby Cuisinart, sprinkled them across the cabbage and chicken, and tossed on a few sprigs of cilantro and mint. Gorgeous! (Next time we’ll include pix.) We cranked up The Black Eyed Peas, popped the cork on a bottle of Sorelle Bronca Prosecco “Particella 68”—one of our all time faves—and partied.
All was well until we had to dish out clean up duty.
An oldie but goodie from The Bitches.
I'm going to make this tonight- sounds great! Quick question- do you cook the ground beef before mixing it with the rice, onion and garlic?
[...] to our shredded cabbage recipe and asked for your recipes. They were all fantastic and can be found on our blog, but we selected just one to share as our guest blog post this [...]
Our favorite cabbage recipe…Stuffed cabbage with quinoa…the recipe is on HomeMadeEasy.org…it is fast and simple and YUMMY!
I got this one years ago from a little Amish cookbook. Quick and easy, deceptively simple, yet tasty.
Amish Casserole
1 to 1.5 lbs. of ground beef or turkey
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced (use 1 head if small)
Several white, yellow or red scrubbed unpeeled potatoes, sliced (depends on size)
1 cup milk
salt & pepper
Saute meat in skillet until thoroughly cooked; drain. Place in bottom of large casserole dish that has been coated with nonstick spray. Layer potato slices and cabbage on top (any order), adding salt and pepper to each layer if desired. Pour the milk over all. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour (you can also use a slow cooker for 4-6 hours). Serve hot. Makes great leftovers.
I LOVE cabbage… I love it hot, cold, shredded, steamed, saladed – but, I found this recipe in Martha Stewarts Living magazine from January 2010 (A whole section dedicated to our FAVORITE bald head! I have never seen nor eaten this before and it intrigued me to try it out immediately. I was NOT disappointed. My new favorite! – give it a go:
Creamed Green Cabbage
Serves 6
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small head green cabbage (about 2.5 lbs.) cored and shredded (about 10 cups)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups warm whole milk
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese (1/2 oz.)
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring 1 inch salted water to a boil in a Dutch oven or large pot. Add cabbage. Cover, and steam, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, and let cool slightly. Squeeze out excess wter using a kitchen towel.
****I drink steamed/boiled cabbage water…some salt and lots of pepper… its like a warm cuppa love – even better when cooked with the corned beef and veg – but don’t add more salt!**** But I digress…
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, and cook until bubbling but not browning, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; add 1/4 cup cheese and the lemon zest. Immediately fold cabbage into sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Spoon mixture into a shallow (6-cup) casserole dish. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of cheese. Bake until bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Per Serving: 162 calories…but who’s counting?
Old-Fashioned Cabbage/Beef soup
1 T Oil
2 lbs beef shanks (i used 1 shank with marrow& stew beef meat)
2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups water (i used beef broth)
1 can (28 oz) Italian tomatoes, packed in heavy puree
1 small head cabbage, thinly sliced
2 T salt (i didnt use this much)
1 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 can (8 oz) julienne-cut beets, drained
Heat oil in large crock or soup pot. Add beef and brown on all sides (i added 1 T flour here). Add onions and carrots and continue to brown well. Stir in garlic. Add water or broth – heat to boil. Skim foam off surface (i had none)
Reduce heat to low. Add undrained tomatoes, cover and simmer 1 hour longer. Add cabbage, salt, and pepper, and bay leaf. Cook 1 hour longer.
Add lemon juice, brown sugar, and beets. Continue cooking 15 minutes longer. Remove meat with slotted spoon, cut into small pieces and return to soup. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Per serving: 301 calories, 10 g fat, 53 mg cholesterol
DELISH!!!!
Chicken & Vegetable Caldo
servings: MANY
1 whole organic chicken (not cheap but you get what you pay for)
4-5 whole carrots broken in half (to fit in the pot)
5 large celery stocks
1 head of garlic sliced in half (expose all the cloves)
5-10 peppercorn
Slowly simmer. Skim scum off top. When chicken is falling apart, the broth is done. Carefully scoop out the chicken and put it aside to cool. Strain the broth with a cheesecloth to get rid of all the tiny bits. Pour broth back into large pot and discard the solids. Once chicken is cooled, clean it off the bone.
Caldo
I use a variable amount of the following:
carrots – cut in 2 inch pieces
– wedges cut to the base so they stay together
red potatoes – either whole or halved
corn on the cob – cut into 1 inch rounds
zucchini – cut into 1 inch rounds
1 small head of CABBAGE
1 can of diced tomatoes drained
cumin – 1-2 tsp
oregano – 1-2 tsp.
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cook vegetables in broth until very tender. Add chicken and it is done. We like ours spicy so we also add the following “pesto. It really brings to soup to life and usually cures anything that ails us.
1-2 jalapenos
1 small bunch cilantro
juice of two limes
salt
Blend in a food processor or blender. Add to individual bowls when serving.
1 head of cabbage chopped into pieces
4 T your choice of butter/margarine
1 t Salt
2 t Pepper
Place all in aluminum foil pouch and grill until soft. Simple, cheap, and quick!
Sweet -N- Spicy Cabbage Pepper Slaw 1 head cabbage
3 bell peppers any color you want
1 large onion
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
red pepper flakes
Chop cabbage into thin pieces (kinda like shredded lettuce) julienne the peppers, and slice onions.
Heat oil in pan and place cabbage, peppers, onion, and garlic and saute until tender. When about half way done add Worcestershire sauce. When all veggies are soft and have a nice glaze from sauce it is done. Add red pepper flakes to taste. Make great side dish for Asian meals/
well i realy dont have a recipe for this but here is how i like to cook cabbage…..Two slices of bacon in a skillet saute onions with it and add a chicken boullion cube. In a large pot add cut up potatoes, coverd with water, and add bacon w/ sauteed onions, when potatoes are almost done add the cut up cabbage,salt & pepper to taste and smoke sausage cut up in bite size pieces. You might have to add a little water….just remember cabbage will cook down so just make sure potatoes are covered with water. Let this cook until cabbage and sausage are done…approx 20 minutes Make cornbread with it…YUMMY. Its for sure a southern thing.
well i really dont have a recipe for this but here is how i like to cook cabbage…..Two slices of bacon in a skillet saute onions with it and add a chicken boullion cube. In a large pot add cut up potatoes and bacon w/ sauteed onions, when potatoes are almost done add the cut up cabbage, salt & pepper to taste and smoke sausage cut up in bit size pieces. Make cornbread with it yummy.
This is not my recipe, but one from Pamela Foor, who was finalist in 2004 PA “simply Delicious” Contest. “Unstuffed Cabbage Casserole” ingredients: 1 cup cooked rice, 1 10 oz can tomato soup, 1 head cabbage, chopped, 2 lbs. ground beef or turkey, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 lb sliced bacon, 1 Tbl butter, 1/4 tsp of both salt and pepper, a soup can of water.
Oven 350 F. Combine 1 cup water and soup and set aside. Melt butter and saute onion and garlic. In another bowl, mix ground meat, rice, onion, garlic,, salt and pepper. Layer cabbage, then meat mix, then cabbage, ending with meat mix on top. Layer strips of bacon on top (I also put some as the first layer). Pour soup over all, cover w/foil and bake 45-50 min. Uncover and bake another 10-15 min. until browned. I did also add some grated swiss cheese in the meat mix.
Tastes like the Polish Gulumpkis (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) w/o all the work!