Haddock and Cabbage

Haddock and Cabbage, an unlikely combination. I wouldn't have picked this recipe but was at a friend's house -- she picked the recipe and did the shopping, I did the cooking.  She cleaned up.  I feel as though I got the better end of this deal.  And it tasted great!



Haddock and Cabbage

1 lb haddock
1 small head cabbage (about 4" diameter)
Olive Oil
Toasted Sesame oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T minced ginger
Salt
Scallion

Preheat oven to 450.

Cut cabbage into thin slices.  Cut half of the cabbage fairly finely, the other half more coarsely.  Cook the coarsely cut cabbage in a couple of tablespoons oil over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and ginger and cook until lightly browned.  Oil a pan and put the finely cut cabbage in the pan.  Salt it and place the fish on top.  Salt the fish.  Bake for 6-8 minutes, until the fish is cooked but tender and opaque.  Put the cooked cabbage over the fish and bake for 2 more minutes.   Pour about 1 T of toasted sesame oil over the fish and sprinkle with scallion.  Serve immediately.

Bubble and Squeak

This was in our newsletter for this week's share and it sounded interesting...or it at least sounded like something I could do with cabbage that was a little different than usual. I followed the recipe as written.

Bubble and Squeak

This dish is said to be named after the sound that the vegetable mixture makes as it fries. (But really, it didn't squeak.) Adapted from Epicurious.com.

Serves 4

1 lb yellow potatoes, peeled (optionally) and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 lb red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cover potatoes with cold salted water by 1 inch and bring to a boil, then boil, uncovered, until tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 18 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Heat butter in a 10-inch heavy nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté cabbage with salt and pepper, stirring frequently, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes, mashing and stirring them into cabbage while leaving some lumps and pressing to form a cake. Cook, without stirring, until underside is crusty and golden, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Ben and I gave it two thumbs up and Sam said "It tastes like potatoes" which is high praise for something with cabbage.

What do you do with lots and lots of cabbage?

We got three heads of savoy cabbage in the share on Wednesday and honestly, that's a daunting volume of cabbage. Who uses that much in a week? I knew I needed to get creative with it and my ultimate goal is to find a cabbage recipe that will convince Sam cabbage is edible. I didn't succeed in that mission but I did find things that Ben and I really liked. One is very quick and simple and the other is a bit of a pain to make but they are both very good.


Cabbage, Kielbasa, and White Bean Stew

2 small or 1 large head of savoy cabbage, shredded
1 large onion, diced
1/2 lb kielbasa, diced
2 cans of white beans, drained
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
Olive oil

Saute the kielbasa until browned, add the onion and cook until clear and soft. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes.


The other recipe is Cabbage and Mushroom Galette with Horseradish Sauce from the Smitten Kitchen. I followed the filling recipe quite closely except I just used my own pie crust recipe in place of the one on the recipe. I have to admit I was somewhat doubtful about this recipe but I shouldn't have been. It was terrific...well for people who like vegetables. I served this to a friend that is not fond of either mushrooms or dill so this didn't go over as well with her. Oh, and the horseradish sauce was a nice touch and would be good on various types of meat as well.

Since I was making pie crust, I also made an apple galette for dessert and a pumpkin pie for good measure. Just what we needed as a follow up to Halloween, right?

A salad twist

I just made this simple and very tasty salad.

Nappa Cabbage Slaw

3 T peanut butter
3 T vegetable oil
2 T honey
1/4 finely diced onion (red onion would probably be better)
1 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 T grated fresh ginger
Salt/pepper to taste

1 head nappa cabbage, finely grated

1 pkg Ramen noodes (yes, the kind you ate in college when you were broke)

Mix the first 7 ingredients well. Break the dry Ramen noodles into small pieces and mix into the dressing. Then mix everything with the cabbage.

Verdict:

Me: Mmm, I'll have it for lunch even though it's supposed to be for dinner

Sam: I don't like this!

A new slaw

A friend of mine made this for us at out house a couple of weeks ago and I made it this morning as picnic food (and to use up the rest of the cabbage before our new share came) and it got rave reviews...from the adults. The kids didn't want to try it but I bet if they had, they'd have liked it.

Use the ingredient ratio that makes you happy.

Easy Coleslaw

Grated cabbage
Crushed pineapple, drained
Mayonnaise

Add some grated carrot if you're so inclined.

Mix. Eat. Enjoy.

Spicy Cabbage and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

We're always looking for new ways to use cabbage. This recipe came in our farm share newsletter this week and since I had all the ingredients, it became dinner.


Spicy Cabbage and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

Using Indian spices and tomato sauce with green cabbage makes this familiar vegetable into something entirely new. Serves 4-6.

2 TB vegetable oil or ghee
1 medium onion sliced thin
1/2 head thinly sliced cabbage
4 medium potatoes, chopped in a 1/2" dice
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garam masala (or, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper)
pepper to taste
8 oz tomato sauce (see Veggie Storage and Use tips, above, to use your frozen tomatoes)
3 TB plain yogurt

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Saute onion for about 5 minutes, until starting to turn golden on the edges. Add cabbage and potatoes and sprinkle with salt. Continue to cook, tossing occasionally, for another 5 minutes until cabbage begins to wilt. Add garam masala (or spice mixture) and pepper. Toss to coat. Stir in tomato sauce. Bring to simmer, cover and reduce heat to medium. Simmer 10 minutes, until potatoes are soft, but not mushy. Remove from heat. Stir in yogurt. Serve with cooked rice or wheat berries.

I didn't really measure anything and added at least twice as much yogurt as the recipe calls for but didn't make other changes.

I served it with rice that I spiced up with some cumin seed. Just heat a little oil, then toss in some cumin seed for a couple of minutes then make the rice as usual with the cumin seed. It's lovely that way.

Verdict: Sam liked the potatoes and the rice but wasn't thrilled with the meal overall but I think that it was likely due to the fact that dessert was sitting right there and he couldn't see past it. Dinner always gets neglected when he knows there is dessert nearby.

Ben thought it would be better with some shrimp or chicken but agreed that it was good.

I liked that I couldn't really tell it was cabbage and it was flavorful without being hot. Good enough that I'm bringing some for lunch tomorrow.

Cabbage but no corned beef

I made my mom's "Crowd Pleaser Cabbage" to go with dinner last night and you know? It really is a crowd pleaser. Easy too. How could it be bad when it has bacon?


Crowd Pleaser Cabbage

1 med head cabbage shredded
1 small onion
1 green or red bell pepper chopped
4 or more slices bacon chopped (I always use more)
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp seasoned salt

Fry bacon, drain on paper toweling. Leave the bacon grease in the skillet. Add onion and pepper. Saute just until tender. Add shredded cabbage, Tabasco, sugar, salt and bacon. Cover pan and cook on med heat just until cabbage is wilted.


A friend of ours joined us for dinner last night and he and Ben went back for seconds. I liked it a lot, Sam pushed it around the plate but may have eaten a couple of mouthfuls somewhere along the line and it seemed to distract him enough to eat the butternut squash and pork we had with it.

I rarely cook roasts of any type so I turned to the old classic "Betty Crocker Cookbook" for instructions. I've got to say that whenever I use that cookbook things work well. It doesn't have fancy and impressive foods but it's just terrific for the basics and it's presented in a more user friendly manner than the other classic, "Joy of Cooking."

I made the seasoning mix for pork roast that was caraway seeds, salt, and garlic powder and you know? It was really good.

And just leaving you with link about food from the New York Time about Michael Pollan's latest book which is very much in keeping with our local eating efforts.

Share and share again

Sweet storage carrots, Adirondack red and blue potatoes mixed with yellow, Daikon radish, shallots, radish sprouts, popcorn, frozen tomatoes, Butterworks Farm yogurt, cheese curds, Patchwork Farm Organic Rye Speckle Bread, and oyster and shiitake mushrooms.

Look at the size of that Daikon radish! It's nearly a foot long and as Ben said, it looks like a sex toy.

I tried the cheese curds immediately of course but they weren't squeaky fresh and didn't live up to my beloved fresh WI cheese curds. I can't seem to get them here despite the large number of cheese makers in the area. If they're not fresh they're just plain cheese which isn't bad, it just isn't curd.

I made an excellent local dinner tonight. Omlettes with last week's eggs, mushrooms, last week's local mozzarella, and shallots with a side of shredded fried potatoes (I tried my new mandolin and it rocked!) It's not such a unique dinner but it was one that everyone loved and I need to remember to do it more often.

I also made some carrot soup for tomorrow night, some coleslaw to use some of last week's cabbage (I've still got two small heads of cabbage left...I think the stuff is endless), and soaked the monster Daikon radish in salt water to pull a little of the sting out of it for a radish salad either tomorrow or Friday.

Oh, and some cranberry orange muffins to use the last of the frozen cranberries. Of course I modified it to include more local ingredients. I subbed half the flour for whole wheat pastry flour, added about 1/2 c of oatmeal, subbed 1/4 c honey for 1/4 sugar, and added some pumpkin I had in the freezer. Sam liked them a lot (I can't taste anything much because of my cold) and I froze them for his lunches.