Friday, November 09, 2012

Simplest Butter-Sauced Cabbage



Okay, I hear you, my fellow CSA sufferers luckyheads. Turnips, beets, soups, slow cooker recipes. I am on it. But I’m hearing “cabbage” too, and it reminded me that this is a recipe I always intend to share, even though it’s embarrassingly simple. It’s our go-to cabbage recipe, in fact, even though roasted cabbage is delicious and far more glamorous. 


But this is somehow comfortingly sweet and plain, and the children have always absolutely loved it. In fact, I asked Birdy to hold the dish for my photo, and then she ate all of it, and all the rest of it from the serving bowl too. Ah, cabbage. It’s like potato chips. Only without being anything like potato chips.


Simplest Butter-Sauced Cabbage
The amounts here really depend, as does the cooking time, on your cabbage: how fresh it is, how much there is. But what I recommend is a generous hand with the butter and salt, and then add enough vinegar that you can just start to taste it. Only make this with nice, fresh fall cabbage. Once the cabbage has been stored for a while, it won’t be so sweet and lovely.

Sweet, fresh green or white cabbage, halved, cored, and cut into 1-inch squares
Butter
Cider Vinegar
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Put the cabbage in a steamer basket over an inch of boiling water, cover it, and steam it until tender. Check it at 5 minutes, but it will likely not be done until closer to 10 (or longer, it's possible, especially if there's lots of it). You want it to be completely tender to your teeth, but not, you know, supersoft in that gross cabbage-y way.

Drain the cabbage very well, then put it in a bowl and add a nice big knob of butter, lots of salt and pepper, and 2 or 3 capfuls of cider vinegar (I don’t know why I measure it in the cap, but I always do). Toss it well, then taste a piece. It will likely need more salt and vinegar. Add whatever it needs, taste it, and repeat until it is sweet, just barely tangy, saucy, and delicious.
I only used half of it because I didn't realize that Birdy was starving for cabbage.

After my planet sent me down on an abduction mission, I became a handy kitchen device!
Before steaming.
After steaming.
The bottom of my cider bottle has something called a "mother" floating in it. You don't even want to know.
Don't skimp on the butter!

19 comments:

  1. I *love* cabbage and your roasted cabbage recipe is such a go-to that I buy a head of cabbage almost every week! This sounds delicious, too. Can't wait to try it.

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  2. We do something similar, but add onion at the beginning, fennel or caraway seeds, and crumbled bacon (you know, to complement the butter) Yay for fall foods!

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  3. There's a Czech or Slovak recipe that involves exactly this and also egg noodles, which then makes it a main dish (albeit lacking a protein component). I like the bacon idea from Rian. ;) However, deviating from family recipes is extremely risky, at least in my world.

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  4. KerrMama5:36 PM

    I bet you measure it in the cap because your mother did...

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  5. I just love you -- I was just, and I mean just this minute about to search your archives for a cabbage recipe, hoping for one that didn't involve the oven. I cut into a HUGE cabbage to make some taco slaw last night, so I have to make cabbage something soon. Easy, except my oven is broken. So, now I know what to make with at least some of that cabbage, since I can't roast it, and I made braised cabbage with apples last week, which I would eat every day of the week but my husband doesn't love it as much as I do. On second thought, maybe if I make it twice a week for a while he'll fix the $%#@ing oven.
    By the way, for turnips, my absolute favorite is a turnip gratin (like scalloped potatoes but with sliced turnips -- cooked onion goes in a pan, topped with sliced turnips, scald milk w/paprika and pepper and salt, pour it over turnips, bring to boil, put in oven at 400 until the milk is mostly gone, sprinkle cheese on top and cook for a few more minutes .) This is unfailingly terrific and passes for dinner with good bread. A dinner I can make as soon as I get my oven back. sigh.

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    1. How much milk to turnip? This sounds great, and I am swimming in turnips!

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    2. In case you check back here, I start with about a cup (that's to fill a 12-inch flat-sided sautee pan which is what I usually use). But sometimes it takes 1 1/2 -- depends on how high your turnips are stacked. Make it just like scalloped potatoes, basically. Good luck!

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  6. Would you be terribly offended if I just kept making the roasted cabbage recipe? Because I kinda feel like why give up something that I now *love* for something that I might just like? But then again, I do have a 15 lb cabbage that I need to hurry up and get through before Monday.

    Farts for everyone!

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  7. Mendel Schmirtz7:12 PM

    I love cabbage! I was trying to figure out what to do for dinner tomorrow night and I think this will work great. Thank you! :)

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  8. Allyson5:30 PM

    I love this. I actually make a version of this from Deborah Madison that calls for poppy seeds. They are yummy, and add a nice bit of texture, but might detract a bit from the comfort food simplicity of your version. I have half a cabbage in my fridge still; I think I'm going to have to try your roasted cabbage!

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  9. Anonymous10:50 PM

    I am susceptible to gas from anything, let alone cabbage (just ask my wife and kids). For some reason steaming cabbage directly in a pan of shallow water with a dollop of milk in it helps, and makes tougher cabbages a little more tender. And yes, I cook it that way because that’s how my mother does it. Thanks for all the recipes!

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  10. Kathy Cornett1:51 PM

    Unrelated, but...I actually got to meet Deborah Madison and have her sign Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (thank you, Catherine Newman) and Local Flavors. Davidson College has a guest chef program at their dining hall and brought her in last week. She held a squash tasting Thursday and prepared several menu items for lunch on Friday. I dragged my 8 and 11 year old along. The 8 year old sampled her menu - the 11 year old opted for the grill. :)

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    1. Allyson7:59 AM

      Jealous! Those are two of my all-time favorite, most-used cookbooks, even though I'm not a vegetarian.

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  11. Mmmmmmm i wish my csa bag had cabbage today! I've made something similar to this where I shred the cabbage and saute it in butter....yum! It was a sample dish at Trader Joe's once and now is a house fave here.

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  12. idream0f1:03 PM

    Down in KY they make hot slaw which is slightly wilted cabbage in a sweet & sour sauce with bacon sprinkled over the top! I know what's for dinner tonight!

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  13. I think this would've been really good if I hadn't steamed it long enough to evaporate all the water, hence burning the pan and sealing into the cabbage the flavor of BURNING. I'll try again another time.

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    1. oh, crud, tia! i've done that too. just call it "smoked slaw" and nobody will be the wiser.

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  14. I know this is unrelated to cabbage, although I do love that vegetable dearly. DEARLY.
    Just this week I decided to use a birthday gift card on an incredibly relaxing pedicure and as I soaked my feet in the tootsie jaccuzzi I opened Real Simple and found... your column! It was great! I liked that it was manner-oriented with a healthy dose of common sense. I even made a mini-shout when I saw the article and had to explain to my pedi-partner that you were "oh, just my favorite blogger who now has her own column!!!" I really loved the 50 gifts under 50 as well as that just about fits budget this year, ha! So congrats and thanks and keep them coming!

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