Eat.Drink.Tweet

Eat.Drink.Tweet
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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Cruciferus Crunching cabbage n' kale


It seems today that I wanted cabbage very badly. I began my day by preparing cabbage salad that my friend Enaunda taught me how to make. It is wonderful and I crave it often.

Slice up some cabbage, kale and whatever other vegetable you think would fit and you toss it with some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. If you wanna get fancy, add some feta. It lasts a couple days in the fridge at least! Infact, it gets yummier with age! Don't we all?

I probably could easily say that I almost always have cabbage on hand. Kale is a very close second... I love spinach, but I have a hard time with the plastic tub of spinach from the GStore...it gets all slimy in there and its stinks! Soo I tend to mostly eat spinach when I can get it fresh! Thank gawd it has a long growing season!

Kale, on the other hand, lasts FOREVER in the fridge! It tastes like crunchy spinach and it goes in everything!

Today it made its home in: My cabbage salad, salad rolls and my cabbage roll babies... mmmmmmmmm ~cabbage rolls~

My mom gave me a whack of vine ripe, splotchy, bountiful red tomatoes that seriously tasted like heaven. Some were just over ripe enough to make sauce. They sat patiently on my counter for a couple days until, tonite... chopped and roasted with garlic, fresh oregano and dill. Then buzzed with that wand thing. Fittingly called a 'buzz buzz'! I promptly stir in some lemon zest and check if it needs salt or not.

Hey, wanna know the trick to get the cabbage for cabbage rolls all nice and limp? (*snicker*)

Pop it in the freezer! Don't tell my mom I told anyone that tho... its a secret.

When you pull the cabbage out to unthaw, pop it in the sink with some water. It thaws quickly.

I made the filling with 1 cup rice and 1 cup pearl barley, a whack of fresh corn off the cob, zukes and kale from my garden. Coupla spoonfuls of greek yogurt (sour cream, normal yogurt, nothin' if you wanna skip the dairy), some nut yeast (aka nutritional yeast), chili powder and smoked paprika. Salt and pepper to taste of course. If I ever leave that part out about salt and/or pepper, assume its in there, cuz it is... I just gap out and forget to say that..... fresh ground pepper and sea salt to be exact!

Take some of that sauce and cover the whole bottom of a casserole dish. Preferably something with a lid.

Take your limp (*snicker*) cabbage and stuff it full of the rice stuff. Roll it loosely and place them in your casserole dish.

When you have placed all your rolls, douse them in the rest of your sauce. I like saucey rolls....! Yum!

Pop in the oven 350 degrees covered for about 40 minutes. Then take the lid off and let them brown up a touch on the top.

Voila! Serve with a salad..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I am pretty sure that cabbage rolls are one of those genetic things that telepathically got passed on from generation to generation. Cuz I don't ever recall actually learning how to make them... I just know how! Maybe its cuz my grandma made em all the time and my mom and my aunty... that it has become almost innate in our family genes!

None the less these lil' rolls of happiness are the best post summer meal and they freeze exceptionally well.

The only thing missing, is some toasted sunflower seeds! I am outta them and it drives me crazy. I use them in so much and I don't realize how much, until they are all gone. Oh well... Rancho season has begun and soon enough I will have more.

Lotsa love in the Kitchen tonite.

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