and while I do have some opinions on shoes, ships, and kings (although not so much on sealing wax), for the moment we just need to talk about cabbage. Specifically, a totally easy but amazingly tasty way to prepare this completely underrated vegetable.
About six weeks ago, I found myself grimacing at the quality (or lack thereof) of the green veggies for sale at my local market...the broccoli looked a bit tired, the asparagus was far from spring-fresh, and the green beans appeared limp. And, of course, the prices on all of the above had doubled since summer. Not to be deterred by this seasonal setback, I grabbed a giant head of cabbage for inclusion in that week's eats.
Almost immediately, half of that cabbage was cut into wedges that were gently simmered in chicken stock and served alongside a spicy roast of pork. A few days later, I was toying with the idea of slicing and somehow sauteing the leftover raw cabbage when, fortuitously, I came across a year-old post featuring cabbage in Molly Wizenberg's blog, Orangette. I was already familiar with this gal's recipes through her monthly column in Bon Appetit and, after just a quick glance at her "Cabbage With Hot Sauce" recipe, it was apparent that this was something we definitely needed to try.
Molly described her cabbage dish as "more of a method than a recipe", which suited me just fine, as I immediately realized that I would need to make a few adjustments to both the method and recipe. Molly's version calls for using a wok to stir-fry thinly sliced cabbage and fennel in super hot canola oil, then tossing the cooked veggies with sambal oelek and soy sauce to complete the dish. However, as my kitchen inventory did not include a wok, or fennel, or canola oil, much less a hot sauce I had never heard of, I went to work on making a similar dish using the ingredients and a cooking vessel that I had on hand. It took less than ten minutes, and we were rewarded with some totally awesome cabbage, prepared (or at least flavored) in a way that I'm quite sure I would have never thought of myself. Thanks, Molly.
This recipe, which I made again last night to serve with baked tilapia, simply involves sauteing chunky slices of cabbage in a little hot oil until the cabbage is steaming hot and starting to wilt, but yet with plenty of crunch left. While the cabbage quickly cooks, stirring in soy sauce and hot sauce adds a remarkable combination of flavors that blends perfectly with the cabbage, resulting in a dish that we will happily eat all year round.
Cabbage With Hot Sauce (adapted from Orangette)
1/2 head green cabbage, quartered and sliced into (approx.) 1/2 inch wide pieces
1 tablespoon of olive oil
soy sauce, to taste (I use Kikkoman Lite soy sauce)
hot sauce, to taste (I use Frank's Red Hot)
In a large pot, heat oil until very hot (but not smoking). Add cabbage, and stir to lightly coat with oil. Add a couple of glugs of soy sauce, and stir again to coat cabbage. Let cabbage cook for a couple of minutes, stirring another time or two, until cabbage is heated through and is slightly tender and beginning to wilt. Add a dash or two of hot sauce (or to taste), stir again, and cook (if needed) for another minute or so. Serve hot.
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