Sautéed Cabbage & Apples

Cabbage on it's own doesn't interest me much. Still, it's low cal, high in Vitamin C and K, has lots of fiber, and it's relatively cheap too. So...throw in some apples to sweeten the deal, and a few seeds for a hint of nuttiness, and now it's got more appeal. (And it's super easy!)

Ingredients

2-3 C thin sliced cabbage

1 C very thin sliced apples

1 T butter

pinch salt

¼ C toasted sunflower seeds (sliced, toasted almonds would probably work well too)

Directions

Melt butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add cabbage & apples; tossing to coat. Cover and cook about 5 minutes. Uncover; stir or toss, and cook another 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until cabbage and apples are tender. Season with additional salt if needed.

Stuffed Cabbage (Polish - gołąbki)

Maybe not a recipe that will especially entice a lot of people, but...I had 1/2 a cabbage leftover from another recipe, and I'm always interested in trying something new (especially something that combines more vegetables with the meat), I figured I'd give it a shot. After perusing a variety of recipes and noting consistently common ingredients in all, this is an amalgamation of two different recipes, choosing the ingredients based on flavors I know I like personally. I really don't know how 'traditional' it may be.

Sauce Ingredients
1 15-oz can crushed tomatoes, with juice
1 C mire poix (1/2 C onion, 1/4 C carrot, 1/4 C celery - all finely diced*)
½ C brown sugar
¼ C red wine vinegar
¼ C lemon juice
2 T cornstarch, dissolved in ¼ C water

* I'm not a fan of celery, so I tend to go light on the celery and throw in a little extra onion and/or carrot.

Stuffed Cabbage Ingredients
½ large (or 1 small) head cabbage
1 lb ground beef (or combination beef & pork)
1½ C cooked rice (cook in chicken stock for extra flavor; I used a whole grain, wild rice blend)
2 eggs
½ C bread crumbs
½ C caramelized onions
¼ C brown sugar
½ tsp thyme
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp each salt & pepper

Directions
Prepare cabbage...  Use a pairing knife to remove core. For the most tender leaves, freeze the cabbage the day ahead. With or without freezing, bring a large pot of water to boil; boil cabbage until leaves are tender and pull apart easily (approx. 5 minutes, or slightly more if not frozen). If ribs are still too tough, trim thickest parts.

Mix sauce...  In saute pan, cook mire poix with a little oil until onions are translucent and carrots have softened. Dissolve cornstarch in water; combine mire poix, cornstarch and remaining ingredients in saucepan, bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for ½ hour.

Prepare filling... stir together ground beef, cooked rice, bread crumbs, caramelized onions, brown sugar, thyme, garlic powder, salt & pepper. (Add a little extra bread crumbs or a little of the sauce if mixture is too soggy or too dry...should be a relatively firm meatloaf consistency.)

Assemble...
Pre-heat oven to 375˚.
Pour a thin layer of sauce to cover the bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Place generous ½ cup of meat filling near the rib end of a cabbage leaf; roll toward the outer leaf, tucking in sides as you go. Place seam side down in baking dish. Continue until all meat mixture is rolled in leaves and placed in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over rolls. To retain moisture during cooking, spread remaining cabbage leaves over top of rolls. Cook 1 hour. 

Stuffed Cabbage rolls -- and the extra sauce -- can be served with mashed potatoes, rice or pasta.

Fried Cabbage with Bacon, Onion & Garlic

Fried cabbage...not necessarily high on my list. But bacon makes everything better! And onion and garlic round out the flavors. I'll post the recipe as I first found it; however... I could do with less salt, especially with the saltiness of the bacon, and I had no garlic powder on hand, but threw in a good amount of fresh minced garlic. I also felt the end product was a bit overcooked. I'd like my cabbage to be tender, but still have a little crunch to it. But I suppose that's easy to suit your personal taste.

Ingredients
6 slices bacon, chopped
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large head cabbage, cored and sliced
1 T salt, or to taste
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp paprika

Directions
Place bacon in large stockpot; cook over medium-high heat until crispy (approx 10 min). Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until onion caramelizes (approx 10 min more). Immediately stir in cabbage; continue to cook and stir another 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, approx 30 minutes more.

Rainbow Coleslaw

I'm not a big coleslaw fan, mostly because of the mayonnaise-y, creamy dressing. This recipe has no mayonnaise (or sour cream, buttermilk, etc.) but is dressed with a simple vinaigrette/pickling-brine. Maybe for some, that is NOT a coleslaw. It is, however, more to my personal liking. 

Ingredients: 
½ head green cabbage, finely sliced 
½ head red cabbage, finely sliced
4 carrots, shredded or finely julienned
2 bell peppers*, julienned
1 C chopped parsley 
½ C white wine vinegar 
½ C olive oil
1 tsp salt 
½ tsp pepper
2 Tbls sugar

* You can use any color bell peppers you want, but a yellow and red add more color variety since there's already green cabbage and parsley, and orange carrots in the mix.

Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and sugar. Toss with remaining ingredients in a larger bowl. Refrigerate at least an hour before serving, to chill and allow vinaigrette to pickle the salad.

Asian Pickled Cabbage

Ingredients:
1 head green cabbage
1 large carrot
2 red chili peppers
1 C rice vinegar 
½ C sugar
1  1½" knob fresh ginger
1 Tbls kosher salt

Directions:
Peel and thinly slice ginger. In medium saucepan, bring the rice wine vinegar, sugar, sliced ginger, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, turn off heat and set aside.

Slice or chop the cabbage, discarding the core. Peel carrot; using vegetable peeler, shave remaining carrot into long slivers, then cut slivers in 2" lengths. Seed and dice the chili peppers. Combine cabbage, carrots, and peppers in a large bowl. Using a mesh strainer, pour the warm vinegar mixture over cabbage salad, straining out ginger; toss until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, tossing occasionally, or overnight.

The cabbage will wilt and release liquid in the process of chilling. Use a slotted spoon when serving.