Crazy-Good Cooked Cabbage ♥

Crazy-Good Cooked Cabbage. Yes, it's true, crazy good even though just green cabbage and pantry ingredients. #LowCarb #GlutenFree For Weight Watchers, #PP2. And yes #CrazyGood.
Yeah, I said cabbage and "crazy good" in the same sentence. Hmmm, wait, I see those eyes rolling! I hear you thinking, "Yeah right. Cooked cabbage." But really, cooked cabbage is something special! It so belongs on the list of today's best trendy vegetables, right up there with cauliflower and kale. Weight Watchers Friendly, just 2 PointsPlus. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Vegetarian. And CrazyGood.

Quick-Quick. Name March's top vegetable. What, you give up? It's cabbage, of course! Yep, during March, the grocers put big heads of cabbage out there front and center – all famous-like, as prominent as avocados in January and pumpkins in October.

And yeah-yeah, I know that many of you are scoffing at the idea of "crazy good" cabbage. But the thing is, cooked cabbage is crazy good and it's too bad that mostly, cabbage is relegated to coleslaw. So give cabbage a chance, cooked and crazy-good, remember!

RECIPE for CRAZY-GOOD COOKED CABBAGE

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 90 minutes
Makes 3 cups

CABBAGE
1/2 half head green cabbage
Soaking water with 1 tablespoon table salt
1 inch salted water
1/2 teaspoon ground or whole caraway

SAUCE
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion, chopped small
Cabbage
1 teaspoon good mustard
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sour cream

SOAK CABBAGE IN SALTED WATER 30 MINUTES Remove the outer leaves, then slice the core out of the center in a large V cut. Cut the half into four sections, then soak for 30 minutes in salted water. Drain water and with a knife, cut into thin-as-possible ribbons.

COOK CABBAGE IN SEASONED WATER Fill a large pot with 1" of water, add the caraway. Add the cabbage ribbons and bring to a boil, cover and let cook until just soft, about 5 minutes. Drain water away, setting cabbage aside.

MAKE SAUCE In the same pot, melt the butter and onion, saute just until soft. Add the cabbage, mustard, salt and pepper and cook just until soft, another 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and sour cream. Adjust seasoning and serve.

TO SERVE I found the cabbage good hot from the stove, at room temperature and even leftover, the next day, plain cold from the fridge.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
BE GENTLE ON THE DISHWASHER If you like, use the same pot for soaking and cooking the cabbage.
IS SOAKING THE CABBAGE NECESSARY? Funny story. Chances are, this is an old recipe because I once had a reader who reported that the reason cabbage is soaked in salted water is this: to "clean it of any critters that might have set up housekeeping in there". Ha! Want to know more? Dear Anonymous: This Is Why We Blog. In this case, the cabbage is also hydrated in salted water so there's some seasoning too. But next time, I'll skip the soaking step and just put the cabbage straight into boiling (but salted) water with caraway.



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Still Hungry?


MORE FAVORITE CABBAGE RECIPES

~ Swedish Red Cabbage ~
~ Cabbage & White Bean Stew ~
~ Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup ~
~ more cabbage recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Caraway Cabbage ~
~ Baked Cabbage Wedges ~
~ Alice Waters Coleslaw ~
~ more cabbage recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

A Veggie Venture is home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2015


Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. I've also heard that soaking cabbage was to help draw out the critters. Don't usually do it myself, although your point about hydration is a good one. Cabbage doesn't get much love, does it? I don't use it much myself, but every time I do I wonder why not. We've been doing a lot of roasted cabbage lately (coming soon to a blog near you!), and just love it. I gotta try this -- so much flavor. I'll bet caraway seeds would be a wonderful addition to this. Anyway, really good recipe -- thanks.

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  2. I know cabbage isn't universally appreciated, but I love it and this sounds great!

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  3. This sounds like the cabbage dish my German grandmother made whenever cabbage was available from her garden. She also soaked the cabbage in salted water to 'get the bugs out'.
    My husband is not fond of cabbage except in coleslaw, but I'm going to try this since I'm hungry for this dish and I'm sure it will bring back tons of memories. thanks

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  4. Kitchen Riffs ~ What a good way to put it, cabbage definitely needs a little more love!

    Kalyn ~ We’re in the same boat, then!

    Anonymous ~ Aiii, your note brings a big smile! Let’s hope that maybe a teensy-eensy little bite might persuade your husband otherwise. Or hmm, maybe not, more for you. And me. : -)

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  5. Do you think this would work with red cabbage? I have most of a head left over from one of my daughter's science experiments. (Did you know you can make your own litmus paper from red cabbage juice? You do now!) I'm sure I am the only one in our house who will even try a cabbage dish- thank heavens it's a smaller head!

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  6. Heather ~ Red cabbage doesn’t strike me as right, somehow, color-wise and even combination-wise. But maybe that’s because I was so taken with the green cabbage??? There’s a link at the bottom of the page for Swedish Red Cabbage, that’s my TOTALLY favorite thing for red cabbage, so good I serve it at Christmas with other Scandinavian dishes, just this year, in fact. So maybe I’m stuck in a rut on both colors of cabbage!

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  7. Thanks, Alanna. I'm happy not to waste the rest of the red cabbage on an "experiment" doomed to failure. Will check out the Christmas cabbage :)

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  8. I love all of the cabbage recipes you linked to. This is such a cheap vegetable, and I'm always looking for fun things to cook with it!

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  9. I love cooked cabbage----especially with cornbread. Was the first thing I could eat after weeks suffering with appendicitis ( at 8 years old ), which eventually ruptured. Smelled my Dad cooking it and begged for at least the cooking juice on some cornbread. Probably shouldn't have had any but first thing to stay down for weeks and tasted SO GOOD !!! Usually one can''t eat something they'd had at a time like that but I've liked it every since. Wish I had some right now !!!

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  10. My mum often cooked cabbage in garlic butter. She'd slice then wash the cabbage, drain and dump it in a saucepan. She'd then add some garlic butter and let it cook over a very low heat until done. No extra water as it is more of a steam than boil. To serve, she'd dish it out with a slotted spoon, leaving most of the butter behind. It was so delicious!

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  11. Bri ~ Sounds fab! And so-so simple!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna