Cabbage Chronicles

I've been having the biggest cravings for Cabbage over the past week; this may or may not be due to the fact that I'm Polish and grew up on Kielbasa and haluski.  So yesterday for lunch I whipped this dish up because A) It was a lazy Sunday and B) It's delicious.  I made up this recipe when I lived in Arizona as a poor student (not that anything has changed) studying sustainable food systems and got free, local cabbage.

Note:  this dish is not difficult or exotic by ANY MEANS.  It's super easy, crunchy, deliciously sour, and pretty much fool-proof.  Hopefully soon I'll get up the motivation to actually make vegan Golabki and continue my cabbage chronicles.  

 

Cabbage with Dijon and Black Pepper

1/4 of a medium green cabbage head (or more if you want), cut into long strips

1 small-med yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, minced.

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs dijon mustard

1 tsp hot sauce (Tabasco, what have you)

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 cup white wine (optional)

sea salt, pepper to taste

side-note:  this dish would work WONDERFULLY with sliced Tofurky Kielbasa sausage.

Heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat.  Add onion, fry for about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, Dijon and hot sauce.  Fry for about 5 minutes more.  Add cabbage, stir in with spices, then add white wine (if using), cover and let cabbage wilt (about 5-7mins). 

At this point you can finish it whenever, this recipe is by no means tricky.  I like to let the cabbage wilt with the lid on, then take it off and let some of the white wine evaporate.  The  hot sauce soaks into the cabbage and isn't spicy.  

Obviously there's a lot of room for variation.  It's comfort food, plain and simple, and worked out great for a Sunday lunch.  I love the crunchy, sour flavor of the cabbage, and the dijon just works great with it. Obviously there are fancier things you can do with cabbage, but Polish recipes aren't known for being extremely complex and sometimes the most simple things are the best.  I hope it's enjoyed!

-Beth