I don't think cabbage has come back into fashion just yet. It's not like cauliflower which is the real Come Back Kid nor does it have the same sex appeal as kale. I think most people still do not find boiled cabbage too appetising, but I quite like cabbage, particularly Savoy cabbage which is so pretty. It's apparently also a powerfood and is good for you.
Anyway we've got a very large cabbage in our box this week, so I've been obsessing about cabbage recipes for the past few days, which says quite a bit about life in the country really.
I'm not cooking tonight though. Tonight I'm going out with new friends to a Judy Garland cabaret at a Supper Club. It's my first Big Night Out and I'm totally over-excited already. I think I'm even more excited about the baby sitter than the show, but I digress. Back to cabbage.
The cabbage is so big, we're going to have to deal with it in stages over the week. A phased approach to cabbage.
Firstly for Sunday breakfast tomorrow I'm going to make Bubble & Squeak, a classic English fry-up of leftover brussel sprouts and mashed potato, which sounds disgusting but is actually completely delicious. You can also use cabbage and it's even better if made with dripping (leftover meat juices). You don't really need a recipe as you just chop everything up and fry it in lots of butter or fat but for the sake of continuity here's one.
Since we're having a picnic on Sunday at the Midmar Dam as we "watch" the children sailing in the mist, I can also make some coleslaw. The kids won't even realise they're eating cabbage twice in one day. I'm not very good at coleslaw as I find the carrot-mayo-cabbage combo a bit blah, but I enjoyed this delightfully anorak read on How to Make Perfect Coleslaw from the Guardian no less, which is so entertaining I'm almost inspired.
On Monday we're going to have our favourite pork bangers and I'll make Colcannon, which is basically the Irish version of bubble & squeak, but not really. It's always the first thing I eat when we get to Ireland with a nice big fat juicy pork chop and a half pint of Guinness. One of my favourite food writers is Darina Allen of Ballymaloe fame and this is her recipe for Colcannon. You will thank me for it.
Years ago my mother had the Sunday Time's Cookbook edited by Arabella Boxer (another of my favourite food writers) and it had a scrumptious buttered cabbage recipe by Caroline Conran. I couldn't find the recipe unfortunately but I did stumble on this cabbage & ham soup recipe by Sophia Conran (Caroline's daughter) which I thought I'd have a go with on Wednesday, since we always seem to eat soup on Wednesdays anyway.
I'm going to try the BBC Food's thyme-buttered cabbage recipe but just do it in wedges like how I remembered the Caroline Conran one.
By Thursday I'm sure the kids will be hoping we have broccoli or butternut in our box instead. Or a KFC - without the Slaw.
CABBAGE UPDATE: I'm a huge fan of Atul Kochhar's cooking and he rather fortuitously wrote about spiced cabbage in this past Saturday Times, so I'm definitely using one of these recipes.
This post could now be called 'Six things to do with a large cabbage'.
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