savoy cabbage and potatoes with pesto

I was inspired to invent this recipe when reading a letter from my friend Andi, who recommended a recipe from Lynn Rosetto Kasper’s The Italian Country Table. She adds broccoli and a potato to her pasta with pesto, and calls it “the King of Pestos.” I had a beautiful Savoy cabbage in my refrigerator, aching to be eaten, and I had a brainwave that thin slices of cabbage would be fun to toss with pesto sauce, like spaghetti noodles! You can eat this on top of spaghetti, or not—add olive oil and parmesan to the spaghetti, if you like, before piling the cabbage strands and potatoes on top. But I like it best just by itself—no noodles or cheese, but just the potatoes added to the cabbage for heartiness. The cabbage is sweet and delicious (you can’t beat our Alaskan crucifers!) with the pesto! You’ll be surprised how much cabbage you can eat in a sitting with this recipe!

You could just use commercially prepared pesto if you like—that would save you a little time. This recipe for the pesto is what I do to make a big batch and then freeze flat in ziplock bags. If you’re just making it for this recipe, just make about one-third of a batch. If you’d rather make parsley pesto instead of basil pesto, that works, too! I’ve included both recipes. When I make this, I use more parsley pesto than the basil pesto—it’s not quite as flavorful as the basil, so I like a more generous coating.

basil pesto
This makes a lot—about three times more than you need, so you can freeze the rest, if you like. I like my pesto on the smooth side, so I do this 2-step process with the food processor and then the blender. It makes a lot of dirty dishes, which is why I make a big batch all at once and freeze the extra. If you don’t mind a rougher texture, you can skip the blender.

6 large cloves garlic
½ teaspoon salt
6 packed cups fresh basil leaves
10 tablespoons pine nuts
12-14 tablespoons best quality extra-virgin olive oil

1. In a food processor, puree the garlic with the salt.
2. Add the basil leaves and puree them.
3. Then add the pine nuts and process into a rough paste.
4. Add half of the olive oil, process again.
5. Transfer the whole batch to a blender jar. Add the rest of the olive oil while pureeing the sauce in the blender—stirring down and around as needed to get a nice smooth puree.
6. Taste for salt, and add more as needed.
7. Scoop into 3 freezer ziplock bags and freeze them flat.

parsley pesto
This recipe also makes more than you’ll need for the cabbage and potatoes, but you can very easily freeze the extra for later use as a pasta sauce! I’ve used it to spread on pizza dough, too, as a sauce. It’s great! And parsley is a lot more affordable than basil, too. (Note: when using this for pasta, loosen the pesto a bit with pasta-cooking water--to the consistency of heavy cream--before mixing the sauce with the pasta.)

Whatever you do, don’t use curly parsley. It has hardly any flavor, and the texture is awful, no matter how long you puree it.

2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
4 cups packed parsley leaves
½ cup pine nuts
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

1. In a food processor, chop the garlic with the salt.
2. Add the parsley leaves and pine nuts, and turn on the motor, beginning to grind the parsley. It’s OK if all the leaves aren’t incorporated yet.
3. While the motor is running, pour in the olive oil gradually. Let the blade run for a while to puree the mixture. It won’t be very smooth, but it’s hard to get the parsley pesto smooth, anyway—the leaves are very tough, and it’s almost impossible to get the blender to get it smooth. 
4. Taste for salt, and add more as needed.
5. Use what you’d like for tonight’s dinner, then scoop the rest into a freezer ziplock bag and freeze flat.

cabbage and potatoes

3 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (Butterballs are ideal)
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
1 large Savoy cabbage, halved, cored, and cut into ¼-inch slices
sea salt or kosher salt
Freshly-ground pepper

1. Drop the potatoes into boiling, lightly salted water. Cook until tender, 5-7 minutes.
2. Saute the garlic for a minute in the olive oil over high heat, then add the cabbage strands. Add ½ teaspoon salt and saute until wilted and just tender. Taste for more salt and add more as needed, plus some pepper. 
3. Scoop 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the pesto into the bottom of a big pasta bowl. Add a little hot potato water to thin the sauce. Toss the cabbage with the pesto, then add the potato and toss again. Taste to see if you want to add more pesto. Serve, topped with freshly-ground pepper.