We had corned beef and cabbage! And microwave-baked potatoes.
The corned beef was corned beef; if you start with the good stuff and can manage to simmer rather than boil, it's mahvelous! The taters were taters. Mmmmm, spuds.
But the cabbage...! I didn't want to boil it. Boiled cabbage suits me fine but the aroma tends to linger. Fried, on the other hand, that's kinda good.
Stared with bacon; I had one big strip, so that's what I used. Fry it up, set aside, examine pan. Bit shy on grease, so I added a dollop of olive oil, got the pan good and hot, added a pinch of red pepper flakes and dropped in about half a head of cabbage, cut into medium-sized hunks, over which I had sprinkled a couple big pinches (call it half a teaspoon) of sugar; I used turbinado sugar but whatever. Stir-fried it until it was gettin' bright-colored, then added a leek (cut in quartered discs), five of those pre-peeled snack carrots (julienned) and half a red bell pepper, chopped up; tossed a healthy sprinkle of sesame oil (ymmv) and a dash of black pepper and another pinch of sugar on it, fried a bit, decided it wanted a splash or two of cider vinegar, and stir-fried 'til the leek was translucent and the cabbage was just browning a little in spots. Took it off the fire, crumbled the bacon back in and mixed well.
This made a wok-ful of the stuff. Is it good? I went back for seconds. Tam finished hers and asked for seconds with a slice of corned beef still on her plate! Yeah. It's pretty good. Not bad for starting with a head of cabbage and whatever else was in the fridge.
You had me right up until the leek...
ReplyDeleteA couple of old-timers at our local hunting, tall-tales, and beer drinking club do up a similar recipe. OMG!! I will willingly put up with the aftereffects.
ReplyDeleteThen you should be sure to leave it out when you make the stuff!
ReplyDelete--But seriously, would that have gone for any of it's kin, too? Onion? Chives? Green onion? I'm tryin' to figure this.
Castor, y'know, we didn't have those. I have no idea why.
ReplyDeleteTry your cabbage mixture mixed with broad egg noodles. A favorite of mine from my Czech grandmother and my mother. A meal in itself. But, shred the cabbage before cooking
ReplyDeleteFinely chopped onions would work for me, I guess...
ReplyDeleteChildhood experiences of leek flavored dishes have left me scarred, I suppose. They're worse than brussels sprouts, as far as I'm concerned.