Cabbage without borders

Cabbage grows well, stores well, and keeps you well.  And I don't think we've seen the last of it.  So here a few simple ways to use it up.  Please, chime in with more.  I've listed each of these as vegetarian, but all of them are good with a pound or so of ground beef added to the skillet first.

Simplest Cabbage
2-4 T butter
1/2 head shredded cabbage
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the cabbage in the butter until tender, season to taste, serve as a side.


South of the Border Cabbage
2-4 T butter or corn oil
1/2 head shredded cabbage
1/2 onion, diced
1-2 sliced jalapenos
a package of your favorite corn tortillas
a package of cotija or queso fresco

Saute the cabbage, jalapenos, and onion in the butter (or oil) until soft.  Serve as filling for the tortillas, topped with some cotija or any other variety of fresh Mexican cheese.


East of the Border Cabbage
2-4 T butter or olive oil
1/2 head shredded cabbage
1/2 onion, diced
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
2 T Worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 t paprika
1/2 c sour cream

Saute the cabbage and onion in the butter (or oil) until soft.  Stir in the tomatoes, spices, and Worchestershire sauce and simmer another 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat, stir in the sour cream, and serve.


Even Further East of the Border Cabbage
(This is actually a dish called yakisoba, a street food famous in Osaka, Japan.  I've only had this made with chicken, but pork and tofu are acceptable substitutes.  Stir fry bite sized pieces of about a pound of meat or tofu ahead of time if you'd like to use them.)
2-4 T sesame oil
1/2 head shredded cabbage
1 onion, sliced into thin half moons
thumb length chunk of ginger, diced
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
4 scallions, in 1/4" rounds
yakisoba sauce to taste (Asian section as the grocery, or much cheaper at the Asian store, or sub 1/3 c soy sauce, 1/3 c ketchup, 1/8 c rice wine, and 2 T sugar)
about a pound of yakisoba noodles (refrigerated near the tofu at the grocery, or much much cheaper at the Asian market, or substitute soba, lo mein, or ramen without the seasoning packet)

Brown the meat/tofu first.  The put the onion, ginger, and carrots into the mix until just beginning to soften.  Add the cabbage and season with the yakisoba sauce.  Cook about two minutes, until the cabbage begins to soften, then mix in the noodles and stir well.  As everything gets coated with the sauce, it will start to caramelize.  Stir in the scallions a minute before turning off the heat.  Serve.
(You can watch a video of a Japanese lady making it here.  What is up with the dog?)

Week 14 recipes

First off, we'll try to deal with that pile of summer squash you might be staring down.

Ratatouille -- traditionally heavy on the tomatoes and eggplants, both of which are a week or two away for our particular CSA, this is a great way to use up your summer vegetables.  I chose the recipe from Cooking for Engineers, because I'm an engineer and the site amuses me.  It has lots of pictures!  You could follow the recipe exactly, or sub out the eggplant with the softer pattypans, the herbs with microgreens and garlic chives, and cut some of the sweet corn from the cob to add.

Marinated Garden Vegetables -- Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian


  1/2 c red wine or rice wine vinegar
  2 T salt
  herbs to taste (oregano, thyme, Herbs de Provence) - about 2 t
  2 bay leaves
  2 cloves garlic
  1/2 c olive oil
  1 head broccoli, chopped
  2 medium squash (yellow, zuccs, or pattypan) cut lengthwise and sliced
  2 medium carrots, cut into rounds
  handful of green beans, cleaned and cut into 1" lengths
  a bell pepper, sliced
  1/2 cup of good black or kalamata olives
  black pepper to taste

  Bring herbs, salt, oil, vinegar, and garlic to a boil in about a quart of water.  Add broccoli and green beans and boil for about a minute.  Then add the squash, carrots, bell pepper, and olives and boil less than a minute more.  Turn off the heat and cover.  Allow to cool in the pot, and serve at room temperature or cold, with a bit of the liquid plus the black pepper.

Vegetable Pancakes -- These will use up summer squash in a flash, and this great New York Times article (again, Mark Bittman) brings several international flavors to the table.  Many of these can use cabbage instead of summer squash.
 

Tomorrow I'll try to hit beets and cabbage.

Week 14 Lists

I was swamped tonight -- I dropped by the house during the work day to throw the veg in the fridge and then took off for more events.  Pulling it all back out to photograph at 10pm was a little daunting.  No pictures, sorry, but there's nothing here this week that isn't self explanatory for what it is or something that I've pictured before.  Corn and peaches are the new guys.  I am putting a whack of recipes in a second post to help with using a few of these items up, though.


SMALL
garlic chives
Blue Lake green beans
peaches (early red haven)
white pattypan squash
sunburst squash
Italian green zucchini
zephyr squash
yellow squash
sweet corn (!!)
beets
cabbage
broccoli
raspberries


MEDIUM
flying saucer squash
straight neck squash
Mediterranean squash
Chinese green beans
blackberries
extra peaches

LARGE
apricots
micro pea shoots
red cabbage
Chinese broccoli
bok choy (slightly different variety than usual)
micro purple basil
micro green basil
micro wheat grass
extra raspberries
extra blackberries
extra broccoli

Squash suggestions

From Alissa, member and manager of the CSA.


Squash & Beet Chips
If you have a dehydrator, make beet and squash "chips".  They can also be done in your oven if you have an oven that stays at really low temperatures.
http://www.mommypotamus.com/raw-veggie-chip-recipe/

Quick Squash Pizza Sauce (Hiding the veggies so my kids won't pick 'em off):
One of my favorite things to do with my squash is make sweet pizza sauce.  I used to go through an elaborate preparation of cooking down fresh tomatoes and pureed squash until all the water was gone.  Then I started wanting to eat more raw foods.  So now, I just process my squash in the food processor and add a bit of tomato paste.   I also used to go through the elaborate process of making my own pizza dough from sprouted grains.  Now, I just plop down a sprouted grain tortilla, add the squash/tomato sauce, raw milk cheese and whatever toppings I want.  Then I put it in my oven for 5 minutes just until the cheese gets melty.  By the way, I also add spinach and other dark leafy greens to the sauce.  It's a great way to "hide" all kinds of vegetables : )

Save your squash.  You'll be glad you did.
I love to use my food processor to grate my zucchini.  Then I divide it into 1 or 2 cup portions and use my FoodSaver to vacuum seal it (any freezer container works well too) - and put it in the freezer.  Then all winter long, I have perfectly sized portions for making zucchini breads, muffins, pizza sauce, etc.

Squash Quiche
This is a favorite with my kids too.  I chop the squash into tiny pieces and mix them with eggs to make a quiche (with or without crust).  I add herbs, garlic, onions, spinach, whatever I have around.  And cheese.  Then I bake @ 325 degrees until it seems like the center is no longer liquidy.  Don't bake too long, or you'll end up with a dry one.