Tag: Cabbage

napa cabbage salad with spicy peanut dressing

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This recipe is based on one from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets. It’s a great one to take to a picnic, or to make ahead and serve at a barbecue. It makes a big batch, so you can either make it all and feed it to a crowd, make a half-batch, or make it all and just dress the portion you want to eat at one time, and eat it a couple of nights in a row. (That’s what I do.) This is a fantastic recipe with any kind of grilled fish and some brown rice, especially if you do an Asian marinade on the fish, and maybe serve a fruity salsa on the side.

salad

2 large carrots, peeled (if the skins are tough) and grated
8 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage
4 cups slivered lettuce leaves
1 bunch of scallions (including the green tops), sliced thinly
1 cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup chopped mint leaves (optional, but fantastic)
¼ cup chopped Thai basil or sweet basil (optional)
½ cup dry-roasted, salted peanuts, chopped coarsely

dressing

1 jalapeno chile, halved lengthwise, seeds removed with a spoon, and finely diced
½ cup rice vinegar (I prefer brown rice vinegar)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup peanut butter
2-4 tablespoons roasted peanut oil (Loriva brand has great flavor. Don’t use refined peanut oil—it doesn’t have the flavor you want.)

1. Combine the cabbage, lettuce and carrot with the rest of the salad ingredients except the nuts.
2. Whisk the dressing ingredients together, season to taste, and toss with the greens. Taste the salad and add more salt and sugar to taste.
3. Garnish with peanuts and serve.

cabbage salad with lime and oregano

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This salad recipe is based on one in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Suppers book. It’s fine even the next day as leftovers—it just gets to be more like cabbage pickles. It’s fantastic with homemade refried beans, or on top of the beans piled on a tostada… add diced avocados and you have a feast!! See the recipe for “tostadas three ways” for all kinds of recipes to serve with this salad!

If you’re serving this salad on its own (not with refried beans or something else), you can sprinkle it with toasted green pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for a little extra pizzaz. See instructions, below.

Tip: in case you like to make things occasionally with lime juice (like guacamole, or this recipe, for example) but you don’t always have limes hanging around, you can buy a big bag of them from Costco, squeeze them right away, and freeze the juice in small containers. Then you can just pop a container in the microwave for a few seconds when you need some fresh lime juice.

6 cups finely sliced green or red cabbage
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ cup finely diced white onion or scallion
2 pinches dried oregano
2 to 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro (if you have it—but go ahead and make this salad without cilantro if you don’t have any hanging around.)
1/3 cup lime juice

Toss the cabbage with the salt and onion and sugar. Add the rest of the salad ingredients, toss well, and taste carefully. Does it need more sugar? More salt? More lime? Add until you’re happy with the flavors. Its should be bright and pickle-y, not bland. Refrigerate until ready to use.

toasted green pumpkin seeds
Put a ½ cup or so of green pumpkin seeds (not the ones from your Jack-O-Lantern, but the kind you can buy in bulk at the grocery store) in a skillet over medium-high heat and toast, stirring fairly constantly (with your extractor fan running for the inevitable smoke) until the seeds swell up and turn golden around the edges. Some will make popping noises. Pour onto a plate and let cool for a bit to crisp up before serving.

red cabbage salad with green peas

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This is a recipe that I adapted from one that my friend Colleen emailed me. Hers used radicchio and cider vinegar, but I didn’t have any radicchio—so this salad was born! Both recipes have peas in common, though! If you happen to have access to those fantastic fresh peas from the Valley right now, use them—or if you’re lucky enough to have frozen them last summer, make sure and use them! The frozen ones in the store are mushy compared with frozen Alaskan peas—ours taste sweet, delicious, and fresh, even out of the freezer. See the “peas” section for a method to process them for freezing.

If you don’t have red cabbage, you can use green cabbage, too—it’s pretty, still, with the different colors of green. Since this is a wilted salad, but the cabbage still retains some of its crunch, it’s great as a leftover salad the next day. I love eating this salad as a side to an avocado toast with balsamic vinaigrette and pickled red onions.

vinaigrette

¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
1-2 tablespoons honey

salad

½ a head of red cabbage, sliced very thin
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen green peas
½ bunch of scallions, sliced thin (or substitute ¼ cup of minced red or yellow onion)

1. Put the cabbage and scallions into a large salad bowl.
2. Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer to dissolve the honey and salt. Add the peas to the vinaigrette and cook for 1-2 minutes (maybe a bit longer if the peas are still frozen), just long enough to warm and cook the peas a little bit. Don’t cook them so long that they start to turn grayish-green; this is just to infuse them with the vinaigrette and soften the skins a little.
3. Pour the hot dressing and peas over the top of the cabbage and toss to mix well. The dressing will wilt the cabbage a little. Taste and add more salt, pepper, and honey as needed to make a vibrant salad.

warm red cabbage salad

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This dish is fabulous—I make it all the time through the fall and winter, and I never get tired of it. The recipe is based on one in Deborah Madison’s Greens. Even if you’re not a diehard cabbage fan, this recipe may well convert you.

The cabbage can be as soft or as tender-crisp as you like—I usually cook it until it’s fairly tender, but make it to your liking. I have been known to make huge vats of this for parties—you can make it in the afternoon, before dinner, and warm it up in the microwave and then sprinkle on the nuts, parsley, and optional cheese at the last minute.

Serve it with thick slices of whole-grain toast topped with hummus, with roasted winter squash cubes, or with baked sweet potatoes.

¾ cup shelled walnuts
2 teaspoons toasted walnut oil (I use Loriva oil. Don’t bother with refined walnut oil—it won’t have the flavor you’re looking for.)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper
1 small red cabbage (about 18 ounces)
1 crisp red apple
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, plus extra to taste
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
3 ounces soft goat cheese, broken into large pieces [optional]
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toss the walnuts with the walnut oil and some salt and pepper and toast in the oven for 7-10 minutes, until the nuts are toasted and fragrant. Remove them from the oven and let them cool.
2. Quarter the cabbage, remove the core, and slice it thinly.
3. Core the apple and slice it thinly.
4. Put the garlic, vinegar, and oil in a wide sauté pan over medium-high heat. As soon as the mixture is bubbling, add the onion and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the cabbage and continue to cook until wilted, and as tender as you like it.
5. Season with plenty of salt and pepper, and more vinegar to sharpen the flavors. Don’t be shy with the vinegar and salt—it’s what makes the salad yummy.
6. Add the apple slices and stir for another minute, then remove from the heat. Just before serving, add goat cheese (if using), parsley, and walnuts.

cabbage & mushroom toasts with dill

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This recipe is based on a galette recipe in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Yes, I’ve made this recipe as a galette, and it’s very lovely and festive as a tart. But I’m not always in the mood to mix up a batch of tart dough, and even when I do, the crust never tastes as good as toast made from our Rise & Shine Bakery whole grain sourdough bread. So usually I just make this topping and pile it high on slices of toast!

For a feast, serve these toasts alongside the roasted winter squash cubes or the beet salad with horseradish dressing! You can double the recipe if you have a big enough skillet—the cabbage mixture keeps really well in the fridge or freezer.

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4-8 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried dill
6-8 cups thinly sliced green cabbage (Savoy or regular green cabbage)
¼ cup chopped parsley
---------------------------------------
thick slices of hearty whole-wheat bread
1 clove garlic, peeled
olive oil or butter and/or prepared horseradish, for topping the toast

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and ½ teaspoon salt and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Then add the mushrooms, garlic, and herbs and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the cabbage, another ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ cup water. Cover and cook slowly until the cabbage is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes, turning it occasionally. Add more liquid as necessary. When tender, uncover and raise the heat to evaporate any excess moisture. The mixture shouldn’t be too soupy.
3. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.
4. Toast the bread and scrub one side with the raw garlic clove. Drizzle each slice with olive oil or spread with butter and then add horseradish if you like. Pile the cabbage-mushroom mixture on top and enjoy!

caesar salad nouveau (egg- and dairy-free version)

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This is the alternative to the classic Caesar with eggs and Parmesan cheese, and while it’s not exactly the same, it’s really delicious! If you’re trying to be a little healthier, but you love to eat Caesar salads as much as I do, you could do this version sometimes, and make the classic version for special occasions!

This recipe is altered quite drastically from the one that inspired me in a cookbook called Veganomicon. It’ll make a meal if you make this salad big enough! Sometimes I’ll slice some cabbage to put in with the lettuce if I don’t have quite enough romaine for everyone I need to feed.

dressing

1/3 cup raw whole almonds
3 cloves garlic, peeled
¾ pound silken tofu (one whole box of tofu in those little aseptic shelf-stable boxes)
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 heaping tablespoon capers, drained
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard

1. Pulverize the almonds in your blender. Add the garlic, and blender until the garlic is chopped up a bit. Add the tofu and oil and blend until creamy. (You might have to use a spatula to get it to mix up thoroughly—I recommend only stirring with a spatula when the blender is turned off.)
2. Add the lemon juice, capers and mustard and pulse until blended. (Again, you might have to use your spatula.) Adjust the lemon juice and salt to taste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

garlicky whole-grain croutons

5 slices hearty whole-grain bread
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the garlic with the salt in the bottom of a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the olive oil. Cut the slices of bread into ½” cubes and toss them in the garlicky oil until the oil is thoroughly absorbed and distributed.
2. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the croutons are crispy and golden-brown.

salad

1 to 2 large heads romaine lettuce
¼ of a small green cabbage, sliced thinly (optional)
fresh ground pepper to taste

1. While the croutons are baking, wash the lettuce, dry the leaves and tear or slice into pieces, and place in a large salad bowl with the sliced cabbage.
2. When you’re ready to sit down and eat, spoon some of the dressing over the leaves and toss, adding more dressing as needed until all the leaves are nicely coated. Since the dressing is thick, make sure you toss very thoroughly before adding more dressing—it takes a while to fully coat the leaves.
3. Toss in the croutons, sprinkle with pepper and serve right away, before the lettuce wilts.

tostadas three ways

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We cook this meal quite frequently, changing the toppings based on the season. The constants for this meal are corn tortillas, toasted until crisp in the oven, a layer of homemade refried beans (I switch between black beans, pintos, and anasazis), and salsa. After that, it’s up to what’s in season, what’s fresh at the farmers’ market, what storage vegetables I have in the garage, and how elaborate I want to get. In the middle of summer, we’ll top the tortillas with beans, then a limey cabbage salad, then avocado cubes and some salsa. In the fall and winter, on top of the beans, we pile roasted butternut squash cubes, then guacamole, and pickled red onions or salsa. Sometimes we do roasted potatoes, instead of the squash—we tried purple potatoes last summer and they were really fun. Cheese turns out to be unnecessary with all the other great flavors, but it’s certainly fine to add it—either on top of the beans, or to the tortilla at the end of its toasting time in the oven.

And maybe you feel like a simpler meal? Just make the beans and pick one of the vegetable salads, depending on the season! We very often just have the refried beans and cabbage salad. I make lots of extra beans and freeze them for when I want a quick meal! See the photo for the abbreviated version of this meal--with the cabbage salad, and refrieds made out of pinto beans.

corn tortillas
refried beans (recipe follows)
roasted winter squash cubes OR cabbage salad OR garlic-roasted potatoes (recipes follow)
salsa and/or pickled red onions (recipe follows)
guacamole or diced avocado (recipe follows)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Set the corn tortillas on baking sheets in a single layer and toast them in the oven for 15 minutes, until crisp, fragrant, and just starting to get golden brown. Toast 2 or 3 tortillas per person.
2. Let each person top their tortilla with beans, then squash or cabbage salad or potatoes, then avocado, salsa, and/or pickled onions. Eat with plenty of napkins at the ready!

refried beans
This recipe will give you plenty of beans for a couple of days’ leftovers (always a good thing, in my book). They freeze really well, too, so make as many as you like and freeze them (well-labeled) in plastic containers for future tostada meals.

3 cups dried beans: black turtle beans, pinto, or anasazi beans
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large onions (1 for quartering, 2 for dicing)
10 garlic cloves, peeled (4 to be left whole, 6 to be minced)
2 bay leaves
4 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted in a skillet and freshly ground
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder, or regular chili powder
sea salt or kosher salt

1. Soak the beans in water for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Quarter 1 of the onions, leaving the root end on so the quarters stay intact. Cover the beans in water by a couple of inches, and add the quartered onion, 4 whole garlic cloves and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are completely tender. When the beans are tender enough to easily squish between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, turn off the heat. This could take from 30 minutes to an hour or longer, depending on how old the beans are. Just make sure the beans are nice and soft. Turn off the heat and let the beans cool for a bit. If you have time, let them sit, covered, until they are completely cool. Remove the quartered onion, bay leaves, and whole garlic cloves and discard.
3. Chop the remaining 2 onions into small dice, and mince the remaining 6 garlic cloves. Saute the onions with 1 teaspoon salt in a wide skillet over medium-high heat until they start to brown—5 or 10 minutes. Then add the garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and 1 more teaspoon salt, and sauté for 5 minutes more.
4. Add the beans and 1 cup of their cooking liquid. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or so, partially mashing some of the beans with the back of a wooden spoon, a potato masher, or an immersion blender.
5. Season with plenty of salt and pepper to taste. The beans can take a lot of salt, so just keep tasting until they are perfectly seasoned. You may need to add more salt when you reheat them—just taste and see.

roasted winter squash cubes
Smooth-skinned squashes (like butternut and banana squash) are easiest to do this with, because it’s very easy to peel them before they are cooked. When I do this recipe, I usually roast 2 pounds, at least, because the squash cubes make such great leftovers… If you make this meal for dinner you’ll have leftovers for lunch and another dinner, which is always a good thing! You can eat more tostadas, or toss the squash cubes into a salad, or just eat them with leftover beans.

1 pound banana squash, or 1 large butternut squash (at least a pound)
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel and seed your squash and dice it into ½” pieces (the pieces don’t have to be square, though).
3. Coat a large baking sheet with non-stick spray or oil. (This makes clean-up a lot easier.)
4. Toss the squash cubes with the olive oil and salt. Spread them out in a single layer on the baking sheet.
5. Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until starting to get brown and slightly shriveled. Remove the squash from the oven, keeping the oven on, and drizzle a little honey over the squash. Toss the cubes with the honey and return to the oven. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes more, until the squash is browned.
 
cabbage salad
This salad recipe is based on one in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Suppers book. It’s fine even the next day as leftovers with the beans—it just gets to be more like cabbage pickles.

6 cups finely sliced green or purple cabbage
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ cup finely diced white onion or scallion
2 pinches dried oregano
2 to 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro (if you have it—but go ahead and make this salad without cilantro if you don’t have any hanging around.)
1/3 cup lime juice

Toss the cabbage with the salt and onion and sugar. Add the rest of the salad ingredients, toss well, and refrigerate until ready to use.

garlic-roasted potatoes

2 pounds Butterball potatoes (or other yellow, waxy potato)
garlic oil (recipe in Step 1.)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper

1. Make garlic oil: Mash or mince 3 or 4 garlic cloves and cover with ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Toss them in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of garlic oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again.
3. Lightly oil a large baking dish or sheet pan, and transfer the potatoes onto it, making sure that a cut side of each potato is touching the pan. (The side touching the pan will brown nicely). Roast the potatoes until tender and browned, 35 to 40 minutes.

pickled red onions

1 pound red onions
1 quart boiling water, more or less
1-2 cups white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns, lightly crushed
2 pinches dried thyme
a pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

1. Halve the onions, peel them, and slice them into half-moons about ¼” thick. Separate the half-ring slices from each other and pile them in a bowl.
2. Bring a kettle of water to a boil, and pour the boiling water over the onions. Stir the onions around in the hot water for 30 seconds, just to soften them, then drain them in a colander (you don’t want to let them sit in the boiling water too long or they’ll lose their crunch.)
3. Put the sugar, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme, and red pepper flakes in a large jar, and add about a ¼ cup of hot or warm water. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt.
4. Jam the onions into the jar. Pour in white wine vinegar to cover the onions. If you don’t have enough vinegar to cover, you can add some water. I don’t usually do this, though, because I reuse the vinegar once or twice, so I like the brine solution quite strong. Put the lid on the jar, shake to combine, and keep it refrigerated. The pink color will begin to infuse in about an hour. Taste them after they’ve pickled for a day, and add more salt and sugar to taste, if they don’t have enough zip for you.

guacamole
Yes, this website is all about seasonal, local food, but it would be awfully hard to live without avocados. I buy bags of avocados all year ‘round at Costco. Here’s how to ripen and store the avocados from Costco so they don’t get overripe and go to waste. Buy a bag of them when they are rock-hard, and set them on your counter. Every day (you must be vigilant), squeeze them very gently to see how soft they are getting. When they have just begun to get soft (don’t wait until they are squishy), put them in the refrigerator RIGHT AWAY—this will more or less arrest their further ripening, and you will have a treasure trove of perfectly ripe avocados for a week or more. If you want to make this Alaskan guacamole, make it with our local onions!

¼ to ½ cup minced onion (to your taste)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 jalepeno peppers, seeded with a spoon and minced
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro (optional)
¼ to ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
3 ripe avocados
2-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1. After mincing the onion, scoop it into a glass or bowl and cover with cold water and let it soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  (This takes away some of the bite of the raw onion.)
2. Put the garlic, jalepeno, cilantro, salt, and cumin in a medium bowl. 
3. Halve, pit, and peel the avocados.
4. Drain the onion well in a sieve and add to the bowl, stir with a fork.  Put one avocado into the bowl and mash the flesh with the onion mixture.
5. Cube the remaining 2 avocados into ½” pieces and put the pieces into the bowl.  Sprinkle the lime juice over the diced avocado and mix entire contents of bowl lightly with a fork until combined but still chunky.  Adjust seasoning with salt and lime juice. Try not to eat the entire bowl while you’re testing it.
6. You can cover it with plastic wrap, pressed directly onto surface of guacamole, and refrigerate it for a few hours before serving, if you like.

Vietnamese-style Napa cabbage soup with shrimp

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Last week at the Wednesday Dimond Center Farmers’ Market, Carol Kenley was giving away a free Napa cabbage if you spent $20 at her stand. Needless to say I fulfilled that requirement… and then came home with a GIGANTIC Napa cabbage, on top of the vegetables from her stand, A&M Farms, and Stockwell Farms. Whoops! I’m still digging out from under that mountain of wonderful vegetables!

So… what’s a good way to make quick work of a Napa cabbage? I’d already eaten that great napa cabbage salad with spicy peanut dressing for several meals the previous week… So I invented this quick soup, inspired by a vaguely similar chicken-noodle soup in Cook’s Illustrated from 1999. I left out the noodles entirely (remember, my main goal here was to use up vast quantities of cabbage—not fill up on noodles!), but you can add them if you like. The broth is really flavorful after just 20 minutes of simmering with the Asian ingredients—I think you’ll love it!

I used fresh shrimp from the Saturday South Anchorage Farmers’ Market, but you could substitute any seafood you liked. This will make 4 big bowls of soup.

Optional noodles

8 ounces thick rice noodles

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Off heat, add noodles, and let sit until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside until ready to distribute among individual serving bowls.

Broth

8-10 cups vegetable broth (low-sodium, if store-bought), or bean-cooking broth (for example, from the hummus recipe)
8 medium cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch rounds
3 star anise
¼ cup Asian fish sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1. Bring all ingredients to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer partially covered for 20 minutes to blend flavors.
2. Strain the broth through a sieve to remove the flavorings and return the broth to the pot. Bring the soup back to a simmer, and season to taste with additional salt if necessary.

Soup

1 pound fresh shrimp, shells removed
1 medium Napa cabbage, rinsed and sliced thin crosswise (about 8 cups)
4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin on an angle
½ cup loose-packed fresh mint leaves, torn in half if large
½ cup loose-packed fresh cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
Lime wedges for squeezing at the table

1. While the broth simmers, remove the shells from the shrimp and chop all the vegetables.
2. When the broth is strained, add the shrimp to the simmering broth and cook them until just tender and cooked, for about 45 seconds. Remove them immediately from the soup with a slotted spoon or strainer.
3. Bring the broth back to a boil and add the cabbage. Cook on high heat for 3-5 minutes, or to your taste. The cabbage should be cooked a little bit, but retain a little crunch.
4. Ladle the cabbage and broth into large soup bowls, add noodles if you’ve decided to use them, and top each serving with a pile of shrimp.
5. Sprinkle on all other ingredients and serve immediately, passing lime wedges separately.

sauerkraut

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This is Farmer Mark Rempel’s recipe for sauerkraut! I’ve just made it for myself. Mark told me that it would take around five weeks to complete, so I figured I’d better get started… but today I stirred it up after the first week, and it tasted SO good--fresh, but salty and fermented and yummy… that I decided to stop it after only one week!  I popped it into ziplock freezer bags and froze it!

You can buy cases of cabbage from most of the vendors at the farmers’ market, and sometimes farmers will be willing to give or sell you split heads of cabbage cheaply. The cabbages are so fresh and sweet and full of moisture right now—the perfect time to make sauerkraut! Then you can make delicious sandwiches (like Reuben sandwiches—using pastrami or roasted mushrooms), or eat it with sausages or as a side dish. 

Check out our YouTube video for the step-by-step process!

I’ve given you the recipe to fill a 5-gallon bucket, but you can make a smaller amount if you want, using the proportions I’ve shown, below.

sea salt or kosher salt
16-17 pounds of green cabbage (this amount will fill a 5-gallon bucket)

1. Clean out a 5-gallon bucket very well. If you don’t have a food-grade bucket, clean it and then line it with a sturdy plastic food-grade bag.
2. Wash your hands thoroughly. It’s important to keep your hands and equipment very clean when you’re making sauerkraut, because it is made by fermentation at room temperature, and you don’t want to introduce contaminants to the process.
3. Quarter each cabbage, cut the core out, and then shred the cabbage, using a food processor and a fairly thin slicing blade. (Or you can do this by hand, if you like.)
4. Weigh the cabbage, so you know how much salt to add. For each pound of cabbage, you’ll need 1 ½ teaspoons of salt. Measure the salt you’ll need into a small bowl.
5. Layer the cabbage into the bucket, sprinkling each layer with salt as you go.
6. As it sits, the salt will take most of the water out of the cabbage—so much will come out that it will cover the cabbage with briny liquid! 
7. Leaving the bag containing the cabbage open at the top, folded down over the top of the bucket (or just leaving the bucket open, if you didn’t line it with plastic), put a double-bagged bag of water on top of the cabbage. This bag of water keeps the cabbage submerged in the briny liquid, but it also lets the carbon dioxide that results from the fermentation escape around the edges. It’s a perfect fitting top!
8. Let it ferment in your house at about 70 degrees. Stir it once a week, tasting every week! I stopped mine after just a week, but Mark lets his go for about 5 weeks to complete the fermentation. Just taste and see, and decide when you want to stop it from getting any more sour. 
9. Take the sauerkraut out of the bucket and pack it into ziplock freezer bags and pop it in the freezer!

kale (or collards) and cabbage with white beans on garlic toast

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This is one of my favorite recipes, believe it or not. The ingredients are so unassuming and humble, but when you cook them all together, they become wonderfully good. The onions are sweet, the garlic and greens are savory, the parsley is fresh and vibrant, and the cabbage is tender. You don’t have to put this on toast, but I love it that way. If you add lots more bean broth, this is a good soup, as well. It’s a meal on its own.

It makes a big batch, but I’m betting you won’t have any trouble finishing it off as leftovers. It tastes even better the second day, after the flavors have had time to meld. This recipe is a variation of one in Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets.

beans:

2 cups white beans, soaked for 4 hours or overnight
1 onion, peeled and quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
2 bay leaves
sea salt or kosher salt

vegetables:

2 large onions, finely diced
2 bunches dino or Tuscan kale or collard greens, leaves stripped from the stems and sliced into ½” slices
1 small cabbage, either Savoy or green cabbage, quartered, cored, and sliced thinly
4 plump garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of chopped parsley
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper

toast:

thick slices of hearty whole-wheat bread (1 or 2 per person)
garlic
extra-virgin olive oil

1. Drain the soaked beans, then put them in a pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add the quartered onion, garlic, and bay leaves and make sure the water covers the onions. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender. This could take 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours, depending on the size of the beans and how old they are. When the beans are tender enough to easily squish between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, turn the heat off. If you have time, let the beans sit in their liquid with the aromatics until cool. Remove the quartered onions and whole garlic and discard. Add salt to the beans to taste.
2. While the beans are cooking, chop all the vegetables and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the kale or collards and boil them until tender. The boiling time could be as short as 3 minutes in the summer, or as long as 10 or 12 minutes in the fall, depending on how big and old the greens are—just keep tasting them. Drain the greens.
3. Warm the olive oil in a heavy, wide skillet or pot (non-stick works especially well). Add the onion and cook over medium heat with 1 teaspoon salt until the onion is soft and golden brown, about 12 minutes. Add the kale or collards, cabbage, garlic, parsley, and 2 more teaspoons salt. Cook over low heat with the pan covered until the vegetables are soft and the volume greatly reduced, about 15-20 minutes.
4. When the beans are done, add them, along with a cup or two or their cooking liquid, to the pot. Simmer until the greens are completely tender. Taste for salt and season with pepper. (You may have to add quite a bit of salt—kale and collards need a lot of salt, as do beans.) Save the rest of the bean broth for vegetable stock in soups and stews—just freeze it until you need it.
5. Toast the bread slices. Rub the toasts with a peeled clove of garlic. Spoon the beans and greens over the toast and serve, drizzled with a little olive oil, if desired.

savoy cabbage and potatoes with pesto

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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.

Savoy cabbage and sage on pasta with toasted walnuts

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I love this recipe! Here’s another of my pasta recipes that has loads of vegetables and not so much pasta. Healthy, healthy, healthy! Make this especially when you can get fresh Alaskan Savoy cabbage—it’s so sweet and delicious! The combination of sweet, browned onions, sweet Alaskan carrot slices, and the salty, toasted walnuts… it’s fantastically flavorful Fall food! It’s inspired by a recipe in rebar modern food.

One nice thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to put any cheese on it, because of the salty, roasty-toasty walnuts. Try it with just the nuts before you heap Parmesan on it!

½ pound whole wheat pasta, or buckwheat soba
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), diced
sea salt or kosher salt
6 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon red chile flakes
1 tablespoon dried sage (or ¼ cup fresh sage, minced)
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves)
1 medium head Savoy cabbage, halved, cored, and cut into ¼-inch thick ribbons
½ to 1 cup vegetable stock, bean broth, or water
3 medium carrots, cut into thin half-moon slices
1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (optional)
freshly ground pepper
½ cup walnuts, toasted for 15 minutes in a 350-degree oven
1-2 tablespoons toasted walnut oil (optional—but I love to use Loriva oil)
½ bunch parsley, leaves chopped finely

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and sauté the onions with ½ teaspoon salt until golden. Add carrots and sauté for another couple of minutes, then add the garlic, chiles, and herbs for several more minutes.
3. Stir in the cabbage with another ½ teaspoon salt and the stock or water, and add enough stock to keep the cabbage from sticking in the pan. Continue to sauté the vegetables until the cabbage is tender.
4. Meanwhile, add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the boiling water and cook the pasta until tender.
5. Chop the walnuts coarsely and toss them in a small bowl with the toasted walnut oil (if using) and a generous pinch of salt.
6. Just before serving, taste the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar to taste, but don’t overdo it—you want to be able to taste the flavors of the vegetables and the toasted walnuts.
7. To serve, put a small mound of pasta on each plate, and mound a big pile of vegetables on top. Sprinkle with toasted, salted walnuts and chopped parsley.

bubble & squeak, deconstructed (savory sauteed cabbage with roasted potatoes)

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“Bubble & squeak” is a British dish made of mashed potatoes and leftover cabbage, fried in a skillet until browned.  Here’s my version, using different cooking methods for each of the two components, to bring out the best qualities of each vegetable. My version, though, is easier than the interminable and oily pan-frying of the original! I made it with local onions, local cabbage, and local new potatoes! 

The cabbage part of the recipe is based on a galette filling recipe in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. You can double the recipe if you have a big enough skillet—the cabbage mixture keeps really well in the fridge or freezer.

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4-8 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced (but I’m sure this recipe would still be great even if you don’t have them!)
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried dill
6-8 cups thinly sliced green cabbage (Savoy or regular green cabbage)
¼ cup chopped parsley
---------------------------------------
garlic-roasted potatoes (recipe below)

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and ½ teaspoon salt and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Then add the mushrooms, garlic, and herbs and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the cabbage, another ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ cup water. Cover and cook slowly until the cabbage is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes, turning it occasionally. Add more liquid as necessary. When tender, uncover and raise the heat to evaporate some excess moisture, but it’s OK if it’s a little soupy.
3. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.
4. Serve alongside garlic-roasted potatoes!

garlic-roasted potatoes

2 pounds waxy potatoes (such as Butterball, Yukon Gold, or Purple Viking)
garlic oil (recipe follows, in Step 1.)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Make garlic oil: Mash or mince 3 or 4 garlic cloves and cover with ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes into small bite-sized pieces. Toss them in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of garlic oil, then sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and toss well.
3. Lightly oil a large baking dish or sheet pan, and transfer the potatoes onto it, making sure that a cut side of each potato is touching the pan. (The side touching the pan will brown nicely). Roast the potatoes until tender and browned, 35 to 40 minutes. Scrape and toss the potatoes after 25 minutes or so to get more than one side browned.

radish slaw

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(contributed by Nancy)

I initially saw this in Gourmet Magazine. I love having this underneath grilled fish, but it is good all on its own. You can use this with either red radishes or daikon radish.

½ lb (red or daikon), trimmed and grated coarse (about 2 cups)
3 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 cup coarsely grated carrots
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro, mint, or parsley

In a bowl toss together the radishes, the cabbage, the carrots, the onion, the lemon juice, the sugar, the oil, the herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.

spicy indian cabbage & yellow split mung beans

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(contributed by Alison)
This wonderful and interesting recipe is based on one from The Indian Vegetarian, by Neelam Batra. You never run out of things to make with your veggies when you add Indian food to your repertoire! I find split yellow mung beans (mung dal) at Sagaya. You could try this with red lentils instead (don’t soak them first) and let me know how it turns out. I think red lentils would turn into mush, though. But would probably taste just great!

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped ginger
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 cup sliced scallions (use minced onions in a pinch)
5 jalapeno peppers, skin puncture to prevent bursting
1 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro, soft stems included
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 cup finally chopped fresh or canned tomato
1 medium or 2 small cabbages (1 ½ to 2 pounds), quartered, cored, and finely sliced
½ cup dried split yellow mung beans, or dal (if you have time, soak them in cold water 4 hours or overnight)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro for garnish

1.  Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat and cook the ginger and garlic, stirring, until golden, 1-2 minutes.
2.  Add and cook the scallions, jalapenos, and cilantro for 1-2 minutes, then stir in the coriander, cumin, turmeric, and salt. Cook for a few seconds and add the tomato, cabbage, and mung beans.
3.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until the cabbage wilts, 3 to 4 minutes. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the dal is tender, 20 to 30 minutes or so. If you’ve soaked the dal first, you’ll probably only need 20 minutes, and you might not need to add extra water. The unsoaked dal, though, will likely need a little water added during this process to keep everything from sticking and to cook properly.  Just keep an eye on it when you uncover and stir.