[This post orginally appeared exactly one year ago (1/10/10) in one of my previous blogs. One of the ones that lacked focus. It was about anything and everything, but this pitch for cabbage fits here. I love cabbage. I'm actually craving some right now. Which is why I'm adding this post. And the one year thing is a nice added reason for posting today. Enjoy.] ~
My family likes to say that I’m a food snob. I suppose it’s true that I’m….well, particular. I have strong opinions about food, from what to buy to which restaurants are worth the money. More than anything I hate spending money on food that is a) not very good or b) I could have made myself. And don’t even get me started on bottled water. Such a waste of money. In China, I drank the boiled stuff from the machine on our hall. I put it in my nalgene and put it outside on my windowsill until it cooled off. It didn’t take very long. I was in Harbin after all.
When lovingly criticized by my family for being a food snob, I have one argument: greens. I love cheap greens. Iceberg lettuce and plain old green cabbage. YUM. Love the crunch. (I must admit, however, I do enjoy buying these organic when I can, because it makes me feel less guilty about not washing before eating.) Lettuce is my standby for lunches, and cabbage is my go-to veggie for dinners (I think Dan may be getting sick of it). but I can’t really put into words how happy it makes me to purchase a nice big head of cabbage for 49 cents a pound (39 when it’s on sale!) and store it in the fridge for as long as I like before pulling it out, and copping it into those clean, crisp ribbons. Depending on my recipe, I throw it in the electric wok or my le creuset and in no time I have a delicious, nutritious meal.
So, I’m thinking not everyone eats enough cabbage. And I think that if you’re one of those people, you’re missing out. So to make things easy for you, here are some of my favorite cabbage recipes:
Cabbage and Hot Sauce (Orangette) - Make sure you have it with a fried egg, so good! (Also, Orangette apparently has a similar affinity for cabbage, as she just replaced her photo of orangettes on her blog with a gorgeous shot of savoy cabbage. But therein lies the difference. Savoy is fancy. It’s more than 49 cents a pound. But then again, she is Orangette after all. And I’m…well, not.)
Stir-fried Cabbage (Bon Appétit) - Great with rice and tofu, or a fried egg!!
Red Lentils with Cabbage (Smitten Kitchen) - A much more involved recipe, but so delicious. And keeps with the cheap theme!
Try one. I promise you’ll like it. And if you don’t, you’ll only be out $2.
(Thanks JO, for prompting this post - I hope you’ve enjoyed some cabbage dishes recently!)