Monday, July 20, 2009

Summer Veggies: It's What's for Dinner

Lately our CSA box has been full of cabbage, small red onions (like shallots), cloves of garlic, and red or golden potatoes. The onions & garlic are easy to use, and they keep forever... potatoes, too. But what to do with all the cabbage? I can only tolerate so much in green salads... and I did make some yummy coleslaw, but wanted a little variety.

Ryan's wisdom teeth extraction last week also demanded lots of soft foods... I went to my standby The Joy of Cooking, and found within this trusty tome a recipe that was a Szrama hit. Maybe you'll enjoy it, too!


Mashed Potatoes with Cabbage & Scallions (Colcannon)
an Irish Favorite, adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Place in a large saucepan (or Dutch oven):
2 lbs Yellow finn, Yukon gold or all-purpose potatoes, peeled & cut into 1 1/2" chunks.
Add cold water just to cover. Pile on top of potatoes:
2 bunches scallions (or 2 shallots)
1 sm head green cabbage (~1lb), cored & chopped into 1" pieces
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to gentle boil. Cook, covered until potatoes are fork-tender (~20 min). Drain & return veggies to pot. Mash the mixture over low heat while adding:
1/2 c half & half or whole milk (I prefer 1/2 & 1/2), warmed
4-8 T butter, softened (the more, the better, especially if it's nice yellow spring butter!)
1 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
When mixture is coarsely mashed, taste & adjust seasonings & serve.
*I found that I wanted to add back in some of the drained liquid (a little more than a 1/4 cup) to help with the texture, so you may not want to throw it out right away. It's really rich in nutrients, too, so at least you could give it to your plants! Including 2 cloves of garlic in the boiling process would be yummy, too!

We are also enjoying lots of fajitas, hummus w/ falafel (lots of yummy garden tomatos to dip and the fabulous yellow cucumbers from our CSA!!!) & Thai curry (great way to use up veggies I don't particularly like-- like green beans & broccoli!)... and I'm making some mint iced tea with stevia & mint from our garden right now. Yummy!
--Off to get the tea

7 comments:

Sharon / Markus said...

We like steamed cabbage with butter and garlic salt. Also we like eating it by cutting it up into little shreds adding a german spice that is something like italian seasoning, vinegar, garlic, salt, and a bit of water to make it moist then we toast a pita pocket coat with mayo and then fill with the cabbage mix. Tuna is a great filling with this as well. Germans like their cabbage! - SRJ

Wakenda said...

Have you considered making homemade sauerkraut? It takes a few weeks for the cabbage to fully pickle, but then it can be frozen for up to 2 years before being used.

A Tremmel family favorite, and now one of Greg's as well, is cabbage sauted with some black pepper and olive oil till it's al dente. Really good as a side dish. ;-)

Eowyn's Heir said...

I guess I don't think I like sauerkraut... and steamed cabbage tastes kind of like it (at least what I remember from when we were in Alsace-Lorraine/Germany)... maybe I'll try it again, though. I might like it now... or maybe I just don't like the smell? I'm going to try to make those cabbage wraps, Sharon. I can't use pita pockets but instead I was thinking I could try it with tortillas.

RoBanJo said...

tried the recipe last night. Joanna and I reaaally liked it. It only made 3 servings??? I pulled Joanna's portion after the butter but before the 1/2 & 1/2; we then added olive oil, tumeric and some of the left over water; yum, it was good too. You don't like sauerkraut, huh, what, mmmmm, I don't understand?

RoBanJo said...

Oh, yeah, one more thing. We all will have to meet at Coors Field for a ball game. Check out the link. We'll have to get Greg, Kendi and Nathan there too.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/2009-07-23-837295050_x.htm

Eowyn's Heir said...

Sharon- I just made that shredded cabbage filling, and wrapped it up with mayo in corn tortillas, and it was quite tasty! Thank you!

Maybe I DO like saurkraut now, I don't know. I'm scared to try in my own kitchen where I'll have to smell it, lol.

And maybe it just made 3 servings because you ate a lot? Ours has lasted longer than that...more like 6 servings I'd say. And it really is good! I'm hoping I'll get more CSA potatoes today so I can use up my last head of cabbage that way.

Eowyn's Heir said...

THAT IS AWESOME ABOUT THE GLUTEN FREE BALL PARK FIELD!!! If only they started making funnel cakes... that's my dream. I used to just accept the consequences and eat one funnel cake at Homecoming each year in college. I'd be sick for weeks, but somehow found it worth it. I can't really do that anymore... oh yeah, and if only the food were not only gluten-free, but soy-free, too... I can dream, right?