Well, ragazzi, facts are facts. And the facts are, the temperature is not moving out of the low 70s during the day, the nights are in the 50s, Annalena has pulled out her sweatshirts: we are in that period that Annalena thinks of as "Sumtumn" or "Autmer," something like that. It's sort of a cross of summer and autumn. We say goodbye to some of the pure summer things for another year: the vendors no longer have peaches or nectarines, the basil is nearly gone, the tomatoes "ain't what they used to be," and the annual onslaught of winter squash, cold weather greens, and: cruciferous vegetables has begun.
Every year, Annalena and the Guyman look forward to the arrival of these colder weather vegetables, knowing full well that at some point, they are going to be thinking: "Kale AGAIN?' Such is the tradeback of living and eating seasonally ragazzi.
And let us be honest with each other: many of these vegetables require a lot more love than the tomato you can just slice and put on a table with some salt, or the peach that just sits there, dripping juice. So we take solace in the fact that the kitchen might not be as hot as it was, and get set to do some serious work.
"Serious work," however, need not be heavy work, and what after all is the point of doing this, if you're not going to enjoy the result? Annalena turns to one of her favorites, Martha Rose Schulman, for the recipe which follows. Yes, you will spend some time in the kitchen, but you will be pleased at the results. And all you vegetarians will love this. So, too, will those of you who want something a little lighter, and a little healthier. So, "cominciamo."
Let's start with the cabbage: if you walk through your farmers market, you will be astounded at the varieties you can find nowadays. When Annalena was just a bambino, there were red cabbage heads (smaller), and plain white cabbage heads, the size of giant boulders. This week at her market, there was spitzkohl, red spitzkohl, two or three kinds of white cabbage, and her favorite: savoy. This is the crinkly one. You've seen it. Cabbage does not, inherently, have much flavor, but savoy seems to have more of it. You are going to need a healthy 1.5 pounds of it. In the picture below, the half on the left, is 1.5 pounds. Keep this in mind, because you will almost never find a cabbage weighing 1.5 pounds. Look for a second recipe (Annalena has posted them), or make coleslaw:
Next you will need 2 cups of grain, already cooked. Ms. Schulman calls for millet.
Do you know what millet is? If you have ever had a pet bird, and you bought the bird a strand of seeds to nibble on, that's millet:
Annalena loves millet, but she had none in the house. She did have wild rice, so she cooked that. Use what you have. Brown rice seems right with this dish, but couscous would work, too. Keep the cooked, cooled grain to the side for now. We'll come back to it.
Using a sharp knife, shred your cabbage. You'll have a lot of it:
Trust Annalena: it ain't all that. Cabbage is filled with water and, as you will see, this will shrink
Ok, so now you need to set your oven to 375 and you also need to slice up and dice up a large onion. You should also chop up a healthy half cup of fresh dill. (you can leave out the dill, if you don't care for it)
Get the onion into a big pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, and cook it slowly: about ten minutes:
While this cabbage is cooking, combine a cup of low fat cottage cheese (in this VERY rare case, ragazzi, the low fat version is better.), together with 2 large eggs. If you happen to have a food processor, swirl it through to make it smooth. If you are so inclined, you might want to add some lemon peel, or other flavorings here. And if you don't have cottage cheese, use ricotta, or any of the softer cheeses that are not so fat rich. Mascarpone, for example, is not going to work. You CAN add more flavor it you like, by adding grated parmesan, or cheddar, or something like that. Do keep in mind that your cheese is a binder here, so that should guide your choices.
So we have our chopped cabbage, our cooked onion, our cheese "custard," and now the fun stuff begins.
Dump the cabbage into the pan with the onion:
Can you see how pale that cabbage is, and how it's crowding the pan? If you wait, patiently, for about 3 minutes:
And then after about ten:
Not much there, huh? Can you see the onions mixed with the cabbage? Those little brown spots.
At this point, you should taste the cabbage and use your salt and pepper. Be generous. Time to combine the cheese mixture, the dill, and the grains, off the heat and stir it together:
After you've stirred it together, fill up a non metallic baking dish:
This goes into the oven for 40 minutes. The sugars in the cabbage will emerge, and so too with the sugars in the cheese. And:
Annalena has a fair number of vegetarian readers, and she can tell you that she would serve this to you, proudly, any day. So, how about you do it yourself, and serve it to yourself? It's the time to cook these things, ragazzi, so give it a try. Annalena is right there with you.
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