5 Things To Do With A Cabbage

1. Make 30 Eggrolls for your Twins’ 16th Birthday Dinner – It was what my girls requested this year – veggie egg rolls. With homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup. It sounds like an odd combo but it’s what they wanted. Whenever I make mushroom soup, I wonder why people eat it out of a can. It’s so easy to make from scratch & tastes a zillion times better. Homemade eggrolls on the other hand, the assemblage of them is the one reasons I understand why someone wouldn’t want to bother with homemade. However, I have kids who like to help in the kitchen and once they get the hang of it, they make excellent egg roll assemblers!

Here’s what you do to make eggrolls:

Chop up some cabbage. Or shred it, whichever. I used about ¼ of the head. Add chopped mushrooms, bean sprouts, some chopped spinach…basically whatever veggies you want. How much? Oh, are you new here to my blog? I don’t measure. I just add enough to make a good proportion between all the veg. Ass a few teaspoons of ginger, a couple cloves of garlic, and a few tablespoons of soy sauce.Mix it all up. This is your egg roll filling.

So, you also have to get some egg roll wrappers. Now you can fill them. Like this!

Now you cook them. Heat oil in a large frying pan and lace egg rolls with enough space between them so you can easily turn them. Cook until browned on each side and tada…done.

2. Lentil & Cabbage Skillet Bake - A few nights after eggrolls, I used another half for this

[image via lukavolger.com ]

This was so easy and yummy. I’m looking forward to having some leftovers for lunch today.

Lentil and Cabbage Skillet Bake
Serves 4 or 5

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 celery stalks, diced
1 leek, white part only, sliced into thin half-rings
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups shredded cabbage (about half a small head)
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch sugar
3 cups cooked brown lentils, cooking liquid reserved
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Pepper
1-1/2 cups very coarse breadcrumbs, preferably homemade, or 3/4 cup of panko
Pinch herbes de providence, or smaller pinches of dried thyme, rosemary, and parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a 10- or 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the celery and leeks and cook until they just start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for about a minute, stirring, until fragrant. Add the cabbage, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and sugar and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender. Add several grinds of black pepper and taste, adding additional salt if needed. Stir in the lentils and 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid, cook until the beans are heated through, then remove from the heat. Taste again for balance, then spread the mixture into an even layer.

3. Combine the breadcrumbs with remaining 1 tablespoon oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and the dried herbs. Distribute the breadcrumbs over the beans. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the topping is golden-brown and crisp. Serve hot.

I substituted balsamic vinegar for red wine vinegar and added a little bit more lentils and liquid (because I’m feeding a monstrous horde)

3. Put it in your bra

I’ll be 60 and long past my breastfeeding days and I will still associate cabbage with my bout with mastitis. I read a lot about cabbage in those days and learned that there’s some speculation as to whether or not the whole cabbage leaf relief for sore breasts is just a bunch of hooey with placebo effect results. I don’t know. It did help me feel some relief and I have a feeling that I will still recommend it as a first remedy for nursing mothers. There was one slightly strange thing that kept happening  during my last experience with mastitis ,though. My toddler nursling kept stealing bits of the leaves from my bra…to nibble on!
Gross,right?!  Weird kid.

4. Have a photo shoot with it

Seriously, have you ever looked at a cabbage? They’re pretty fucking cool. All those folds and layers and nifty contours.

5. Um…Slaw? Soup? More egg rolls? 

I have no idea what’s in store for the ¼ head I have left. One of my favorite veggie books Greene on Greens has a recipe for Cabbage Pancakes that sounds…interesting. Maybe we’ll try that out tomorrow.