"cabbage" news and stories

It can be easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to side dishes, so if you're looking for something other than steamed broccoli or mixed frozen veggies, try this Sautéed Cabbage with Bacon. The bacon gives the tender cabbage a deep, smoky flavor that's perfect alongside pork chops or a pork tenderloin.

Get the Sautéed Cabbage with Bacon recipe.

Remember Cabbage Patch Kids, those odd dolls with the gigantic heads that were big in the '80s? Well, think about the cabbage patch again, but this time think of it as a way to put a great slaw on the table, and do your heart a favor at the same time. This red cabbage slaw, from a recipe by blogger gluttonousvegan, and photographed by littlebluehen, is spiked with lime juice, garlic, cilantro and red onion, with a splash of agave syrup for a hint of sweetness. It makes a crisp side for grilled meats (like this recipe for Spice-Rubbed Grilled Pork Chops with Red Cabbage Slaw), or you can eat it on its own (even stuffed in a pita, for lunch).

Red cabbage is loaded with anthocyanins, the plant pigments that not only make some vegetables and fruits gorgeously red, purple and blue, but may help you ward off cancer, keep your heart healthy and boost brain power. (Read more about the benefits of phytonutrients here.) And that's about the only reason you need to put cabbage back on the menu.

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An autumnal feast. Photo: Brent Ridge, Beekman 1802.

Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802, a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season.

One of the true pleasures of life on the farm is walking out to the heirloom vegetable garden to decide what looks good for dinner. All summer, we've been sharing some of our own recipes, but we're not the only ones out there with a backyard garden and a little creativity. There are thousands of you!

We decided to hold a contest to see who came up with the best impromptu recipe from their garden this year.
And guess what? One of the most influential gardening chefs in the world, Alice Waters, is going to help us choose the winner. We'll even prepare the winning recipe and put it right here. You and your recipe could be famous!

To get you started on the right track, we're giving you one of our favorites this season.

Photo: travelbex, Flickr.

Recipes abound for quick, innovative main dishes. Much fewer are ideas for interesting but not too intensive vegetable sides. I tend to get stuck in a rut, always preparing the same veggies the same way. Often, inspiration comes less from cookbooks or websites than from friends. This was the case recently when I overheard a my friend Isabel's mother, Carol, describe a cabbage recipe while on the phone with her husband. My ears perked up when she mentioned poppy seeds, which I've never seen paired with cabbage, but which immediately seemed to make sense. Part of Carol's ancestry is from Hungary, and there cabbage is sauteed and tossed with more than a dash of poppy seeds. Sometimes apples are in the mix, and often the cooked cabbage is tossed with a roughly equal amount of cooked egg noodles. Carol also explained that cottage cheese is frequently mixed in to make the dish richer and creamy.

Last night, I needed a quick dish to accompany a grilled leg quarter leftover from a Super Bowl party I attended. A few days before, I'd bought a head of cabbage specifically so that I could make the Hungarian dish. I had no apples, cottage cheese, or egg noodles, though, so a healthy dose of poppy seeds (two tablespoons for one head of cabbage) was the primary adornment for the cabbage, which I'd roughly shredded and browned along with a sliced onion in a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil. I also added a liberal sprinkle of black pepper and a tablespoon of sugar, and, of course, salt to taste. The dish is yummy, unusual (for me, at least), and very easy to prepare. I can't wait to try all the variations of this Hungarian delight.