This Vegan Cabbage Dish Is Perfect for a Cozy Book Club
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Prix Fixed, Lifehacker’s menu planning tips column .
Today’s email comes to us from the south, for example from the southern hemisphere:
I recently joined a new book club and am accepting it for the first time. According to the Venn diagram of all dietary restrictions, everything should be vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten-free, although eggs are fine too. Keeping these limits just for a regular dinner on weekdays is not a problem, but I would like to think that I cook well at home and would like to flaunt a little. I find it difficult to come up with a main course. Normally, I would rely on a fancy stew or seafood pasta as an exciting centerpiece, but obviously they won’t work here. The risotto cannot be done because I have to get up and take care of my guests and I cannot babysit the risotto. Some things I can do, or at least cook the day before or before, would be great. I wish there was a main course, a salad and another side dish, I guess? Also, I am in the southern hemisphere and it will be winter here, so ideally nothing that is too dependent on summer production. I hope you can help me!
Many thanks,
(name withheld so I can take all the credit when everyone praises my menu planning)
First of all, I want to apologize for responding so late to this particular request. The email informed me that they are spending the first week of July and we are firmly on that, so I sincerely hope I am not too late with this. (If so, save it until the next time you host, and please feel free to send me an angry email scolding me for being late.)
Okay, let’s get down to business. Even though I am omnivorous and love to fry, smoke and eat a lot of pork, I also love to cook for vegans. It’s easy to hide low-quality skills behind bacon, cheese, and butter, but truly experienced chefs know how to make veggies and other animal-free foods sing. However, I am very fortunate to have this meal in the southern hemisphere because it is cold there and the cold weather calls for braised cabbage.
Braised Kale is a recipe from A.A. Newton , who recently went vegan but has always loved vegetables. This recipe is cheap, simple, and requires little or no user intervention, which means it won’t distract you from hosting and entertainment. You might be tempted to admire the cabbage, but don’t! This recipe is best prepared with a regular green boy.
We’re also going to make a delicious sauce out of a simple can of artichokes, as well as a vibrant radicchio salad (for color and crispiness ). Yes, it has a lot of leaves, but bitter, crunchy radicchio is very different from sweet, melted cabbage.
Purchases
But before you can cook, you must shop.
List:
- Approximately 2 lb. head of plain green cabbage
- 1 radicchio head
- 1 medium onion
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1 15-ounce can of artichoke in brine (the bottom is less stringy, so take if you can)
- Apple vinegar
- maple syrup
- Dijon mustard
- 2 kinds of gluten-free crackers (use something thin and brittle and something thick and shabby)
- Fresh thyme
- Fresh sage
- 1 bag of pecans (minimum cup)
- Olives and pickles of your choice
Pantry items that you probably have, but you may need to buy:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil (you’ll need a lot, so bring a fresh bottle if you’re feeling unwell)
Plan
Now that we have the ingredients, it’s time to cook. If you want, you can spread the artichoke the day before. This spread is surprisingly creamy and filled with artichoke flavor, but you need to spice it up a bit with a little salt, fat, and heat. To make about one cup of delicious artichoke paste you will need:
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup aromatic olive oil
- 1 can of 15 ounces in hearts or artichoke bottoms in brine, drained
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or other acidic ingredient
- 1/2 teaspoon smooth Dijon mustard
- Salt to taste
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium to high heat. When it’s nice and hot, add dried artichokes and garlic cloves. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are caramelized around the edges.
Scrape the contents of the pan into a blender or any other container you would normally use with your blender. Pour lemon juice or vinegar into an empty skillet, scrape off any stuck brown pieces and add them to a blender. Add the mustard and chop the mixture until a slightly lumpy greyish-yellow paste is obtained. It will look rough at this point, but don’t worry, the oil will soften the situation.
With the engine running, drizzle 1/4 cup of oil and beat until smooth. If it feels too thick, gradually add another 1/4 cup butter and puree until you get the consistency you want. Season to taste with salt and serve right away (if you do it right before the meeting) or put it in a covered container and keep in the refrigerator until your fellow readers arrive. Serve with thin and crispy gluten-free crackers, pickles and olives.
Start harvesting cabbage two hours before your friends are scheduled to arrive. Gather the ingredients first. To make this incredibly convenient yet amazingly simple dish, you will need:
- A head of green cabbage weighing approximately 2 pounds without the tough, wilted outer leaves.
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt, plus more to taste
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- Lots of freshly ground black pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- Lemon wedges for serving
Preheat oven to 325ºF. Pour olive oil into a large Dutch oven (or other large heavy saucepan with a lid); add the onion and half a teaspoon of salt and cook over medium heat until soft and light golden brown for at least 20 minutes.
While the onion is cooking, cut the cabbage in half through the pith and remove it, making wedge-shaped cuts in each half; if the open end of the pith is dry and woody, cut it off and discard. Finely chop whatever is left of the pith and add to the saucepan to cook with onion and butter. Chop the cabbage leaves as finely as you can and set them aside.
When the onions and kale are nice and brown, add the garlic and lots of black pepper. Let them sizzle for about a minute, until the garlic starts to brown and the pepper is very aromatic, then add the chopped cabbage leaves. Stir and stir gently to coat each cabbage wedge with oil. Add vinegar and another large pinch of salt, stir again and cover the saucepan.
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (or more), stirring once or twice. The final product should be tender, sweet and caramelized around the edges; keep cooking until it looks and tastes the way you want it to.
When you have about half an hour left for the cabbage, prepare the salad. To do this, you will need:
- 1 cup pecans
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
- 2 small sage leaves, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 small radicchio head
Toast the pecans in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until warm and flavorful (about five minutes). Set aside. To prepare the dressing, mix the remaining ingredients in a sealed jar and shake until an emulsion forms. The dressing can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week.
If you’ve prepared a dressing ahead of time, remove it from the refrigerator about an hour before dinner and shake it well to distribute everything evenly. Wash and dry the radicchio and tear the leaves into small pieces.
When the kale is soft, sweet and caramelized, add some flavor and add salt and lemon as needed. Serve with lemon wedges and thick gluten-free crackers. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, sprinkle with the pecan slices and serve, adding each slice to the side. There are many leaves, but these leaves are at completely different ends of the flavor spectrum. Bitter and sweet, fresh and mellow, vibrant and beige, you get it all in this particular combination.