Monday, March 12, 2007

It's C for Cabbage ( but keep it quiet)

I think we have hit what marathon runners refer to as the Wall. It is cabbage. We discussed at breakfast what the next veg should be after carrot and Freddie took a deep breath and quietly said, "I think it is time to get cabbage over with, quick." He also asked if it was possible to be given an anaesthetic so that he could sleep through the experience and wake up when it was all over. So the GBVC is taking it gently, gently. Hence the soothing image of doughnuts above. Clearly we need your help more than ever before. If you know a recipe for cabbage that removes the need for an anaesthetic, send it here asap.
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18 comments:

  1. Hi Freddie and mum !
    I've added a simple yet tasty recipe on my blog. I'm not sure if you'll enjoy it though. I'll try and find something really special for you

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  2. Anonymous11:05 AM

    Thanks
    Please send us anything cabbagy and inspirational. this one requires extra effort!!
    GBVC

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  3. Cabbabe?! Have we got cabbage for Freddie! This week of St. Patrick's, you might break him in slowly with Potato, Cabbage and (something green) Colcannon. Or the Holy Slaw! just because it's fun to say. But I'd bet on the Cape Breton cabbage too. Or Caraway Cabbage. Or. Or. Or. Yours is a fun project, all the best to Freddie and Alexandra. And Mum!

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  4. Anonymous12:15 PM

    Hi Freddie - Hannah from Masterchef here! I have posted a cabbage recipe for you on my blog. Hope you like it. I have put your picture on too - hope this is OK but can happily change it to a picture of a cabbage if you would prefer! Hope you and your mum are well and happy
    Hannahxxx

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  5. I'd take the best of the brussel sprout recipes - any that Freddie liked - and just use cabbage instead!

    Can't go wrong, surely?

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  6. Hi Freddie, this is Jack from Nebraska. Nebraska has had a lot of immigrants from a lot of different places settle here, and of course everybody brought recipes from their old countries with them.

    One of the groups that settled here was originally from Germany, and they liked these things called runzas. Runzas are rolls filled with meat, onions, and -- this is the important part -- cabbage.

    Lots of other people decided they liked them too. I ate runzas as part of a school lunch, and there's even a local fast food chain called Runza.

    I hunted around for some good runza recipes on the web, so here are a few to look at:

    http://kitchengifts.com/runza.html

    http://www.recipezaar.com/80204

    http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,runza,FF.html - has a LOT of them

    Runzas even have a Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runza

    I'll see if I can think of some other good cabbage recipes, but this is the first thing that comes to mind.

    Keep up the good work!

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  7. Anonymous3:46 PM

    Hi Freddie & Mum! For cabbage, there's always wontons!

    Vegetable Dumplings with Soy Dipping Sauce

    2 sprays cooking spray
    2 tsp olive oil
    1 1/2 cup green cabbage, shredded, or cole slaw mix (shredded green cabbage and carrots)
    1/2 cup carrot(s), shredded
    2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
    2 medium scallion(s), minced, divided
    2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
    24 items wonton wrapper(s), half of a 12 oz package
    1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
    1 tsp sesame oil

    Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

    Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cabbage, carrots, garlic and 1 minced scallion; sauté until cabbage wilts, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 2 teaspoons of soy sauce.

    Place wonton wrappers on a flat surface. Drop vegetable mixture by teaspoonfuls onto center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper with wet fingers, fold over one corner to make a triangle and press sides together to seal. Transfer filled wrappers to prepared baking sheet and coat surface with cooking spray.

    Bake until wontons are golden brown, about 15 minutes.

    Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup of soy sauce, remaining minced scallion and sesame oil. Mix well and serve with wontons. Yields 4 wontons and 1 tablespoon of dipping sauce per serving.

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  8. Hi Freddie-

    Rebecca here, from Boston Massachusetts. Cabbage is an interesting vegetable. One of my husband's favorite cabbage dishes is what he calls "Cabbage Buddies". They are little cabbage bundles filled with pork and covered in a yummy cream sauce. A recipe for them is here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ukrainian-Meat-Filled-Cabbage-Rolls/Detail.aspx
    (though I use green cabbage, not savoy for it.) They are a fair amount of work to make, but quite tasty.

    Another option is what I grew up calling puertorican potatoes. You steam potatoes, cabbage, and onions together. When tender, puree the cabbage and onion and mash them into the potatoes with milk and butter. Top off with a bit of butter and bake for about 20 min to thicken and turn golden on top. If you want something a bit wacky, use purple (red) cabbage.

    Purple (red) cabbage is great fun to cook with because it changes color in the presence of acids and bases. Boil a leaf of red cabbage in a small amount of water for 10 min. Remove the leaf, the water should be purplish. It will change color (to pink or yellow/green) when you add things like lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda. Here's a link about it: http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa012803a.htm

    -Rebecca

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  9. Anonymous6:42 PM

    Sorry, I don't have any cabbage help to offer; however, just wanted to say I love this idea. I'm always looking for blogs that combine parenting with food/cooking/eating. Looking forward to more.

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  10. Hello! New reader here (from New Jersey, if Freddie wants to put it on his map.) Before I comment on the cabbage, I just wanted to say that I think this blog is a great idea.

    As for cabbage, how about egg rolls? I'm not a fan of cabbage myself, but I can't pass up a hot, crispy egg roll. I don't have a recipe, but a quick google provides a bunch of different ideas, some more involved than others, but almost all of them feature a cabbage based filling.

    Good luck!

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  11. Anonymous6:52 PM

    From London here - I'd shred some savoy and steam it, then mash it into some spuds. Or, steam it and stir fry with bacon, add loads of pepper and some naughty butter on top.

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  12. Egg or spring rolls always make cabbage disappear in my house. I just stir fry some thinly sliced cabbage with hoisin sauce or teriyaki, then roll in rice or wheat wrappers, brucj with oil (I use coconut) and then bake on an oiled pan until crispy. For my toddler, dipping sauce is key. Store-bought ones are great, but I have also gotten rave reviews from mixing teriyaki or hoisin sauce with peanut butter.

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  13. Egg or spring rolls always make cabbage disappear in my house. I just stir fry some thinly sliced cabbage with hoisin sauce or teriyaki, then roll in rice or wheat wrappers, brucj with oil (I use coconut) and then bake on an oiled pan until crispy. For my toddler, dipping sauce is key. Store-bought ones are great, but I have also gotten rave reviews from mixing teriyaki or hoisin sauce with peanut butter.

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  14. I made a variant on Mahanandi's Cornmeal Cabbage Muffins
    http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2006/02/28/cornmeal-cabbage-muffins/
    which was yum. My variant only used normal plain flour as I didn't have any cornmeal. It also had far too much olive oil as I misread the recipe - but that made it very moist!! I made it in one tin and cut it in slices as I don't have a muffin tin.

    And how about a red cabbage dish - my mother used to make a great one with vinegar and brown sugar. Possibly raisins and/or apples as well.

    Cabbage is also yum if you shred it and fry in butter with caraway seeds.

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  15. Oh and should I have said that I'm in London, UK.

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  16. Anonymous3:10 PM

    Hello Freddie and Mom,

    Fristly you have a really cool blog and I love reading it. Secondly with regards to the c-word, why don't you try something like Nigella Lawson's Petit Pois a la Francais. Substituting the butter lettuce for cabbage and maybe throwing in some pancetta or diced streaky bacon as well.

    Petit Pois a la Francaise
    Nigella Lawson
    Serves 2

    INGREDIENTS


    • Quarter cup finely sliced scallions
    • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • 1 drop garlic-infused oil (or any oil really)
    • 1 cup shredded little butter lettuce
    • 2 cups or 1 10 oz. package frozen petit pois
    • half cup hot chicken stock (concentrate or cube and hot water is fine)

    DIRECTIONS
    Slice the scallions finely, and cook them in the butter and oil until soft. Shred the lettuce and stir into the scallion, and when it’s wilted add the frozen peas and stock.
    Cook at a robust simmer, uncovered, until everything is tender and the liquid flavourful and reduced.


    I bet it would probably be really tasty!

    Lauren (from Calgary, Canada)

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  17. Anonymous6:23 PM

    Odd to me that nobody has mentioned coleslaw. I just posted one on my blog - http://mrsmarv.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/kickin%e2%80%99-free-radical-bootie-with-slaw/ - it would have made me seriously happy when I was a kid. But I was one weird kid.

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  18. I love cabbage. I even loved cabbage as a child. But I hated coleslaw. Actually to be honest I only disliked my mother's homemade coleslaw, I rather liked the supermarket stuff. Poor woman - I'm sure it was really good and I'd love it now, but the bits were just too big and the dressing too slimey.

    So fwiw my advice if you're going to make coleslaw would be to make sure the cabbage is shredded very very finely and the carrots are well grated!

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