CABBAGE! (+ other storage-ingredient recipes)

I feel like this is the moment I should pitch a CABBAGE! cookbook. Because, o hero of pandemic stockpiling, o green and glorious mountain of crunchy-sweet exquisiteness! Cabbage keeps. And keeps and keeps. Even if you think it didn't keep? It did--just peel off all the discolored, or even fully rotten, leaves, and it will still be fine beneath. It's been predesigned by nature as a kind of matryoshka-Escher experiment in packaging: here's a tiny little cabbage, but we'll seal that inside a bigger cabbage, oh and we'll wrap that one up too inside this other cabbage. . . so that, by the time it's huge, you're dealing with a fully-protected wonder-vegetable. 

Simplest Butter-Sauced Cabbage

We bought 2 enormous cabbages 2 weeks ago, and I have been sawing away at them every night come dinnertime. CABBAGE! I've steamed and roasted and slawed it. I stir-fried and saladed and buttered it. I've shredded it for quesadillas and quick-pickled it for hotdogs. We are living the cabbage dream.

Here's the world's simplest slaw recipe: shred or sliver a reasonable amount of cabbage as fine as you can (a mandolin is great for this), then dress it with the juice of a lime and half its grated zest, a heavy sprinkle of salt and sugar, and a pinch of Aleppo pepper flakes, if you like that kind of thing. Mix it (use your clean hands) and taste it, then add more salt and/or sugar if it needs it, and, if needs more acid, cheat it with a splash of white vinegar (because I am hoardy about the limes--in fact you can use the juice from only half the lime and sub in white vinegar for the rest). Even better an hour later, but good right now, especially alongside something rich or creamy.

Michael once gave me a cabbage for my birthday. To be clear, this was an excellent gift.

Here's what else I got for storage- and pantry-friendly cooking (some of these are recipes I developed for diatribe). Look at the recipe index too, especially if you're baking and/or your like and have tofu and/or you have plenty of eggs. ADAPT AWAY. And be well, my darlings. xo

CABBAGE!
Roasted Cabbage
Simplest Butter-Sauced Cabbage
Gingery Napa Slaw (this can be adapted for green/white cabbage)
Miso-Lime Coleslaw
Pink Slaw
Red-Cabbage Kimchi
Braised Cabbage (this is Molly Stevens' recipe, and it's sublime)

Other Storage-Vegetable Salads
Winter Bright Salad (root vegetables)
Warm and Fragrant Carrot Salad
Simplest Carrot Salad

Soup from Stuff You Might Have
Red Lentil Soup
Borscht
Hotlips Root-Vegetable Soup with Harissa
Lentil Soup with Garlicky Vinaigrette
The Soup of 1000 Vegetables (or, like, 1 vegetable)
Broccoli-Cheddar Chowder (swap in frozen broccoli)
Vegetarian Chili for a Crowd
Green, Green Pea Soup with Ginger and Cilantro (frozen peas!)
Masala Dal (Indian Lentil Soup)
Tomato Soup

Beans and/or Pasta for Dinner
Camp Rice and Beans (the recipe is in the final photo caption)
Super-Healthy Chili Mac
How to Have Beans for Dinner
Perfect Pasta for a Crowd
Lemony Two-Bean Penne with Butter-Fried Breadcrumbs (skip the green beans and sub in an extra can)
Whole-Wheat Pasta with Chickpeas and Lemon
Dinner Beans
Chickpeas with Mint, Caraway, and Greek Yogurt (use a bit of dried mint, and don't worry so much about the herbs)
Buffalo Beans
Chipotle-Lime Black Bean Salad
Bean Feast
Socca (Chickpea Pancake) (if you have chickpea flour)
Warm Lentil Salad with Garlicky Sausage
Lemony Hummus
Maddie's So Good Chickpeas