Sauerkraut slaw

Well, for a little change of pace (not greens!) I made some slaw with last summer's kraut. Why have I not put kraut in slaw before?! For some reason in the heat, I really like eating cold sour things. I finished off my (cold) apple cider vinegar soaked nettles, which was ideal to eat out of a jar from the fridge, and I've been eating up some of last year's experimental ferments: ginger beet (not great, I'll do ginger carrot next time) and a Morrocan spiced beet (still needs some tweaks, but good). 

I've now got 4 days of training in Pacific time, so I made brisket overnight in the crock pot (basically homemade bbq sauce and brisket simmered for 12 hours) and this slaw for some easy dinners. Both things I want to eat when it is hot.

This concoction was inspired by a fermentation book from the library that I photocopied some recipes from, but sadly did not write down the name of the book. (Sorry dear author who I am now not referencing. She also had recipes for fermented ketchup and dosa and all kinds of things that may show up in future posts.) I've made this slaw a couple of times now with what I have on hand, and have felt satisfied each time. I mean, sour + sweet = you can't go wrong (usually).

• 1/4 c raisins
• 1/2 small red or green cabbage, sliced thinly (red is prettiest!)
  
• 1 c kraut
• 2 carrots, julienned/grated/match-sticked
• 1 large apple (I like pink lady), chopped small
• 2 green onions (or equivalent red onions), finely chopped
  
• Fresh parsley if you have it (2 T)
• 1/3-1/2c mayo
• 1 T mustard
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 1 T honey 
• salt to taste

1. Combine the dressing ingredients (mayo, mustard, vinegar, and honey) in a small bowl, mix until homogenous. Add the raisins to it to get them extra juicy!
   
2. Combine the veggies and fruit in a large bowl.
3. Pour the dressing on top, add salt (or kraut juice) to taste. Serve! (This gets better if you let it sit a bit, so make early for extra deliciousness.) 
   
   

   

   This time I added a little kale with the green cabbage
   

Shrimp Egg Fried Cabbage-Rice (take 2)

I posted about egg fried cabbage-rice some months ago, and since then I have revised (and improved) my technique and recipe. I literally make this every week - if not for breakfast, then for dinner. My favorite is to throw some shrimp in, which is really easy b/c I just keep a resealable bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer, and voila. Tasty, comforting, and fast. My wok has never gotten so much love!

*I have some gochujang paste in the fridge that I've been using in this dish. You don't need it, or you could use whatever chili paste you have, or use hot peppers plus a little fish sauce. It adds a nice umami kick. Sometimes I also add in some chopped kimchi.

I've experimented with the order I add things to the wok, and my favorite is to do the eggs early. When starting with the eggs, they stick together without just coating everything else, and they stick to the pan less than when I add them at the end. So my preferred method follows, but you really can't go wrong.

Serves 1:

• 2-3 T sesame oil
• 1 rib celery, diced
• 1/4 large onion, diced
• 2 eggs
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1-2 cups cabbage, chopped small
  
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2"+ of ginger, minced
• 4-6 shrimp, de-veined and tails removed, diced 
• 1-2 T tamari
• opt: minced chili pepper and dash of fish sauce OR 1-2 tsp gochujang paste
• salt to taste
• opt: garnish with sliced scallions

Have all of your veggies/shrimp prepped!

Heat oil in a wok on high heat. Add onion and celery and stir fry for a minute. Push them to the side, and crack two eggs into the wok, ideally there should still be a fair amount of oil for the eggs to crack into. Stir up the eggs so they scramble and cook, mixing with onions/celery.

Add carrot, cabbage, ginger and garlic. Stir and toss for a few minutes. Add shrimp. Cook until pink, 1-2 minutes. Add tamari and gochujang - stir and toss to coat everything. Tip into a large bowl and eat!

Wood stove Grilled Shrimp and Cabbage

I am loving cooking on my wood stove lately, especially while I am working and cannot be tending to cooking. Setting pots on top of it is my favorite! Recently I "grilled" (atop the coals in said stove) some shrimp and cabbage, which went quickly, resulting in a very tasty dinner of shrimp, cabbage, and rice. I made this previously with sweet potatoes instead of rice, which was also delicious.

The shrimp can handle a quick marinade, taking on the flavor in minutes. This combo of citrus, ginger, turmeric and garlic is easy and delicious. I used my extra sauce on rice and veggies throughout the week, which felt like a treat. The recipe below is enough for 2, with a little extra sauce. This Bon Appetit recipe (that I've made twice now) is my first time grilling shrimp, which is SO easy: 1 minute per side, and the cabbage was about 4 minutes per side. This is a really quick dinner if the coals are already ready.

Marinade/Sauce

• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 habanero chiles, seeds removed, chopped (I used fermented minced jalapenos)
  
• 1 2" piece ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 tsp sweetener (opt)
  
• 1 tsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for grill
• Kosher salt
• 3/4 lb. large shrimp, peeled, de-veined

Directions:

Prepare a grill for medium-high heat. Pulse garlic, chiles, ginger, lime juice, orange juice, sugar, vinegar, and turmeric in a food processor until combined and almost smooth. With the motor running, gradually stream in ⅓ cup oil and process until emulsified.

Pour half of the sauce into a small bowl; season with kosher salt. Set aside for serving. Transfer remaining sauce to a medium bowl and add shrimp. Season with kosher salt and toss to coat.

Clean and oil grate, then immediately arrange shrimp on grill. Grill until bright pink and lightly charred, about 1 minute per side. Divide shrimp among bowls. Spoon reserved sauce over; sprinkle with sea salt. Serve with rice or veggies as desired.

(For grilled cabbage, cut 1" slabs from a full cabbage head and brush each side with olive oil. Grill for 4 minutes/side, flipping carefully. (You may need to insert toothpicks to hold cabbage together, depending on cabbage slab!)

Egg Fried Cabbage-Rice

I have been assisting for a training the past few days, and last night I watched several Uncle Roger videos for some comic relief. I love Nigel Ng! My favorite is Uncle Roger watching Jamie Oliver make egg fried rice, 😂 though last night I watched Uncle Roger watch Gordon Ramsey make the dish. I was also mesmerized by this korean egg fried rice video of eggs cracked into super hot oil, bubbling and puffing up before being scrambled across the wok, and then tossed in the air with the rice and vegetables. The images clearly inspired my breakfast this morning, along with the leftover sauteed cabbage/onions on the stovetop that never made it into the fridge yesterday. Uncle Roger would definitely NOT approve of my cabbage-in-lieu-of-rice maneuver. But, I thought it turned out delicious. 

I am pasting Uncle Roger's egg fried rice recipe underneath what I made - should you want to make it and use actual rice! (Note: I had leftover onions and cabbage from the day before that I chopped up fine to use in place of rice. If you do not have this, start with the onions and cabbage and fry for a couple of minutes before you add the eggs.)

Serves 1

In the wok!

• 2 T sesame oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2" piece of ginger, peeled and minced 
• 2 or 3 eggs
• small carrot, diced small
• 1+ cups (leftover) cabbage and onion, chopped fine
• 1 T soy sauce
• salt to taste
  
• 1-2 green onions
  

Heat oil in a wok on high heat. Add garlic and ginger and fry for a few seconds. Crack eggs into the oil, and stir to mix and cook. Break apart. Add carrots and cooked cabbage and onions. Stir and combine. Toss in the air to give some loft!! Add soy sauce and salt, and green onion. Toss again, and serve. 

Uncle Roger’s egg fried rice recipe

• Heat 1tbsp sesame oil in a skillet or wok. 
• Add two chopped garlic cloves and a piece of chopped ginger and fry for a few seconds. 
• Add a large chopped onion and 2 chopped celery stalks and saute. 
• Stir in a cup of corn kernels, 2 chopped carrots, 2 diced green bell peppers and a shredded cabbage and saute for a couple of minutes (Don’t overcook, leave some crunch). 
• Move the veggies to a side of the pan and pour in three eggs. Keep scrambling the eggs until cooked. 
• Mix it all up and add 1tbsp soy sauce and salt to taste. 
• Toss in the meat of your choice and let it cook for a couple of minutes. 
• Stir in three cups of day-old cooked white rice, and let it cook for a few minutes before you turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped spring onion.
  

Roasted Savoy Cabbage

I opted to pick my not full sized savoy cabbages before this recent snowfall and have several heads hanging out on the porch, along with the (now picked) beets and carrots and some kale. This week I did some more reading about fabric covering and hoop houses after watching a neighbor at my garden plot who very skillfully/simply employs such coverings. I am going to do that next year!! Very helpful to extend both front and back end gardening time. But, for this year we'll see how the remaining greens fare with the low night temps and snow sans cover. 

This recipe was simple - very similar to how I've cooked brussel sprouts before - and SO good. I tried this method with mini savoy heads that I thinned some weeks ago, that I halved or quartered, which was very brussel sprout like. In the high heat the outer leaves get brown and crispy and the inner leaves are soft and tender. Yum. 

Serves 1-4 depending on how much you want to eat and the size of your cabbage!

• 1 head Savoy cabbage
• 2 T olive oil (or other fat of choice, melted)
• salt and pepper
• lemon squeeze at end (opt)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. (I actually did mine a little hotter b/c I was cooking some fish at 450, so either works.) 

My quarters, or eighths maybe, falling apart

Quarter your cabbage and take out the core. Cut in half again. The pieces will start to fall apart. You can either just toss them up, or sort of keep them together. Pour olive oil/fat over the pieces to coat. I kept mine partially together and poured the oil over the side to penetrate the layers. (You could also have melted coconut oil or ghee and just stir everything together to coat everything.) Salt generously and sprinkle with pepper. 

Bake on a cookie sheet or baking tray for 15-20 minutes, checking once or twice to turn/toss pieces. I put my tray on the lowest oven rack to get direct bottom heat, which resulted in good browning. 

Once browned to your liking, remove from oven and sprinkle with fresh lemon juice. You could also top with parmesan cheese here?! I found it so delicious it was a little hard to stop. :) 

I ate mine with some tomatoes and the last basil, and fish that turned out really weird.

Okonomiyaki - Japanese Savory Pancakes with Nettles

I've been wanting to attempt Okonomiyaki for years, and finally decided to try a version from the Smitten Kitchen. I've never had Okonomiyaki before, and clearly this recipe is less traditional because they are small and less batter-y. She (the Smitten Kitchen blogger) calls them more latke-like. It was an easy recipe to make GF, and I found them quite tasty, especially with the tangy sauce and mayo. Yum. 

I gathered a bucket of nettles this week, so I added them along with the cabbage, carrot and scallions. I opted to steam them first because I wasn't sure if they would cook enough otherwise to eliminate the stinging edges. I also halved her recipe and that is what I list below. The first half of the batch I ate plain (with the sauce and mayo), and the next night I ate the leftovers with some bacon wrapped sardines. Yum! (They reheated really nicely on a baking sheet in the oven.)

Pancakes
1/4 small head cabbage, very thinly sliced (2-3 cups shreds) *I used a mandoline
2 medium carrots, peeled into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
1 c of loosely packed steamed nettles, chopped (after measuring, squeeze all the excess water out)
2 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 heaping cup gluten free flour (I used a gf blend, but oat flour or chickpea flour would work well)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Coconut oil or bacon grease for frying

Make the pancakes:
Toss cabbage, carrot, nettles, scallions and salt together in a large bowl. Toss mixture with flour so it coats all of the vegetables. (The nettles might clump a bit because they are wet and squished together from getting the water out. Separate them so they are mixed throughout the other veggies.) Stir in the eggs. Heat a large heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Coat the bottom with oil and heat that too.

I used my fingers to grab little piles of batter, depositing them on the skillet to form 3 to 4 pancakes. Press down gently with a spatula so they flatten slightly. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the edges brown. Flip the pancakes and cook them again until brown underneath. Keep them warm in a 250 degree oven until they are all cooked. (And again, these saved just fine in the fridge for me to reheat on a baking sheet later.)

Tangy Sauce
2 T ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (or sub fish sauce)
1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp tamari2 tsp honey
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and let simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until smooth and thick. (I think you can probably do this without cooking and it will be just fine! My ketchup was pretty thick, so I only simmered mine a couple of minutes, and it seemed unnecessary.)

Egg Roll Bowl with Dandelion Greens

It is Ramadan and I am fasting, which means I pretty much just make one bigger meal at sundown, called Iftar. It is funny that the recipe I am posting at Ramadan is a pork recipe, something no Muslim would be eating! (This would be good with beef too.) I was especially happy to toss in a bunch of dandelion greens and some green onions from the garden. I wish I had collected more greens because the subtle bitterness was really nice in here - a good match to the sweetness of the green onions and sauteed cabbage/carrots. I'll have to pick some dandelion greens to eat as a salad to do them proper justice.

I stumbled across the notion of egg rolls sans wrapper sometime back - apparently it is a keto and paleo super recipe, which I wasn't necessarily going for, but I do like to go high veggie content. Really it is a very easy stir-fry that is slightly bland but is reminiscent of egg rolls, which I enjoyed. Also I was working pretty late, so an easy meal prep was handy. I liked it best with the inclusion of fancy hot sauce.

Egg Roll Bowl
1 lb ground pork (or beef)
2 T sesame oil/coconut oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1" ginger, grated
half medium green cabbage, sliced thinly/shredded
1 small carrot, grated/julienned
1 small jalapeno, minced
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 T tamari
1 T dijon mustard
salt/pepper
(opt) dandelion greens - as many as you want
2 green onions, chopped for garnish

1. Cook pork in a medium skillet over medium heat. Break up pices with a spoon as it cooks. When done, set aside to add to veggies.
2. While it is cooking, heat oil in a large cast iron pan on medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and ginger and saute until onions soften, about 5 minutes.
3. Add cabbage, carrots, vinegar, tamari, mustard. Cook and stir for 5-10 more minutes until cabbage and carrots soften. Add dandelion greens, cooked pork, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve with green onions and your favorite hot sauce.

Cabbage Saute with Onions and Apples

I made this cabbage dish last night and it was nice and tangy, and good on this windy day. I put some bacon in mine because I had some and it seemed a fine idea. I think I made three different cabbage dishes this week - a beet soup with cabbage and some kraut, an asian style slaw, and now this. Cabbage and onions (and the root veggies) are a steady item if you have not been to a grocery store in awhile!

This recipe is from the Mill City Farmer's Market site, which has several good seasonal recipes that they post regularly from their vendors. I wonder if Farmer's Markets will be happening this summer? Maybe just the produce stands and not the ready-to-eat food cart type ones? Who knows.

I added a jalapeno to this recipe, and forgot to put in my dried tarragon from the garden (they suggest 3 T of fresh tarragon if you have it). They also suggest additions of grated beets or fennel bulb for some variation.

Cabbage Saute with Onions and Apples serves 2-3
1/2 small head cabbage, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon honey
salt to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper
1 jalapeno, diced
*Top with crispy bacon (optional)

1. Place cabbage in a large bowl and add ½ tsp salt and toss to combine. Set aside while you prep the other ingredients.
2. In a large sauce pan, add the butter or olive oil and the onions. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the apples, caraway seeds and cook until apples wilt a bit. Then add the cabbage, the apple cider vinegar, honey and salt, and cook on medium high, stirring often.
3. Taste as you go to find your texture preference. This is especially good the next day when cooked down quite a bit. Add water, stock, white wine, or cider if you find it needs more moisture.
4. If adding bacon: I cooked mine on the side to get nice and crispy and topped the cabbage at the end. You could also cook your bacon at the start, alongside the onions and integrate it into the dish.

Samosa filling (Keema) and Tikel Gomen

This is the 2nd time I've made Nom Nom Paleo's beef samosa filling, Indian Spiced Keema, along with Ethiopian cabbage and carrots, or Tikel Gomen. They are delicious together.

If you want to get especially fancy, you could also make Besan Chilla, a north Indian flatbread made out of chickpea flour, that when eaten with the Keema is very samosa like. I did not make them this time around, but the combo of the three was a total trifecta. Yum.

Follow everything with a cup of turmeric-ginger tea with coconut milk, and really, it's a pretty perfect meal. (A meal in which I apparently care much more about eating than photographing. These photos are pretty atrocious!)

*My dinner companion was not eating dairy, so I used coconut oil in the keema. It was still good, just a bit less depth (in my opinion). I also didn't have cilantro. The cilantro kicks things up a notch, but perhaps like me, your cilantro is buried under some snow in the front garden!

Keema
2 tablespoons butter, ghee or coconut oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 jalapeno peppers, finely diced
2 pounds ground beef (or lamb/goat/combo)
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 ½ teaspoons salt
½ cup full-fat canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon garam masala
Juice from half a lemon
¼ cup minced cilantro

1) Melt butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute onions for about 10 minutes, until translucent and beginning to brown.
2) Add garlic, ginger, and jalapeno and saute until softened. Then add ground beef. Cook until cooked through, breaking up meat with your spoon.
3) Add turmeric, salt, and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, and cover the pan and reduce to medium low heat. Simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4) After 20 minutes, remove lid and check that the liquid is gone. If not, continue cooking uncovered another few minutes until it evaporates. Add garam masala, lemon juice, and cilantro. Serve!

Tikel Goman

1/4 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
4 carrots, sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 head cabbage, sliced

3 red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces (opt)

1) Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat.
2) Toss in the carrots and onion and saute them in the oil for about 5 minutes.
3) Stir in the seasonings (salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, ginger) and toast for a minute.
4) Add in the cabbage and potatoes. Stir to combine. Cover the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.
*Mine got a little dry in cooking, so I added in a splash of coconut milk. 

Paleo Mu Shu

Happy Solstice! I have not posted in a long while - definitely not since the days were much longer and the garden was still in full swing. A couple of months ago I began an experiment and moved up to the northside homestead full time. Now I am by the garden all the time, but it's got a layer of snow covering the whole thing. Snow that looks pretty mushy today! The harvest continued so late that I am only now finishing off the last of the tomatoes that have covered the kitchen table since November. Otherwise there are about a dozen carrots left, and 3 squash. I had to start buying vegetables at the store last week for the first time since summer!

The final carrot harvest! So pretty!

Tonight's dinner was an attempt at Mu Shu, but rather than wrapping it in the traditional "Chinese pancake" I used steamed cabbage leaves. Mu Shu was the only thing I ever ordered at Evergreen restaurant, a really delicious, home-style Chinese place, and really all for the pancakes. I haven't eaten there in years because of my gluten allergy, but I trust they still make great Mu Shu. Other than the pancake, the only other thing to "paleo-ize" was the Hoisin sauce, which is a critical component to the whole thing since it is what gives the flavor.

The verdict: it was delicious, and the cabbage leaf made a perfect stand-in for the pancake. The Hoisin sauce was definitely different - instead of bean paste, I used nut butter (per various online recipes). It tasted really good, just more like hoisin-sauce-meets-thai-peanut-sauce. Which makes it sound weirder than it was, because really, it was great.

I adapted an online mu shu recipe and paleo hoisin recipe to get what is below. Because I was trying to be authentic, especially for the first go of this, I wanted to get bamboo shoots. You could substitute carrots if you wanted, but, My Charming Companion says part of what makes Mu Shu is the blandness of color - everything is white-ish/yellow except the green onions. Carrots would sort of ruin it. So, I went to Sun Foods up here in Brooklyn Center for bamboo shoots - I had never seen them fresh before, and was originally expecting to get them canned. But as I walked into Sun Foods, which is basically an international Cub foods that feels like a different world - I started seeing all kinds of produce that made me think, huh - is that a bamboo shoot? I walked by enormous yams and tubers that seemed of African origin, and then a bunch of cactus and plantains and yucca before getting to these long yellow things that were the bamboo shoots. Which then were sold in 4 different varieties! So, uh, no need for the canned ones. I was in a time crunch, so the only other thing I got was friend plantain chips (YUM!) but I am pretty curious to go back there and see what strange new fruit or vegetable I come home with.

Paleo Mu Shu, serves 2-4
3/4 lb. pork loin, cut into strips
2-3 T tamari (or slightly more coconut aminos)
1-2 T sesame oil
1/2 small head cabbage, cored and thinly sliced*
1 1/2 cups bean sprouts
3-4 eggs, beaten
3-4 stalks green onion, julienned on the diagonal
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup chinese mushrooms, stemmed and cut into strips**
1 cup bamboo shoots, cut into strips
5 T coconut oil/lard
Steamed cabbage leaves*
hoisin sauce
*Note: the taste will be superior if you have two separate cabbage heads - 1 for steaming and 1 for slicing for the insides. You will have leftovers from both cabbages, but one will be pre-steamed and won't be as crunchy in the mu shu!
**I just used regular mushrooms - we had some dried ones in the cupboard from a friend, so I re-hydrated those.

1. Steam cabbage leaves, aka mu shu wrapper: cut the core from one medium cabbage head. Steam the cabbage head in whatever steamer system you've got - it takes about 15 minutes before you can peel the outer 4-6 leaves, and another 10 minutes to get the next 4. The cabbage is hot when it comes out of the steamer, but use tongs to help you peel each of the leaves. It's easy so long as it steamed long enough. 8-10 leaves should do it. I set them aside in a cake pan, then 5 minutes before dinner, pop them into a 200 degree oven so they will be warm.
2. Prep your veggies and pork. Cut everything up because things go fast as soon as you get started. Put sliced pork in a bowl with tamari and sesame oil.

3. In a large cast iron skillet, heat 1 T fat on med-high heat. When pan and oil are hot, pour in the beaten eggs. You are basically making one big flat egg sheet. Let the egg set until firm enough to flip in one sheet; flip it over for another 10 seconds or so, then flip the whole think out onto a cutting board. Slice the egg sheet into thin strips and set aside.
4. In the same skillet, heat 2 T fat over high heat. Add half of the green onions and stir for about a minute, until onions are sizzling. Add bean sprouts and cabbage. Saute until cabbage is wilted, but still crunchy (this took just a few minutes). Remove from heat and set aside in a bowl.
5. Heat the remaining 2 T fat in the same skillet over high heat. Add the rest of the green onions and garlic and saute for a minute, until fragrant. Add pork and stir fry until just done. Add the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, cabbage, sprouts, and egg sheet. Stir fry for another few minutes.

6. Serve each mu shu cabbage leaf with a smear of hoisin sauce down the middle. Place several spoonfuls of mu shu inside and fold the sides in! (Really, we ended up cutting each cabbage leaf in half because they were so big - these do get a little messy, so be prepared!)

Paleo Hoisin Sauce, makes about 2/3 cup
3 T tamari  (or more coconut aminos)
3-4 T nut butter (I used part almond butter/part peanut butter)
1 T honey (or use part stevia)
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
freshly ground black pepper

Stir everything together until combined - make sure to work nut butter well!

Ribs and Slaw

It was My Charming Companion's birthday this weekend, and I happened to have bought some St Louis style ribs that were needing to get made - so we celebrated with ribs, coleslaw, and mini pumpkin pies. (On the actual date we made enormous steaks and baked potatoes with iceburg lettuce wedges and homemade thousand island dressing - it was a steak house dinner replica, but better and at home!) The rest of the weekend has been spent in a very laid back sort of manner, partially necessitated by my main drain backing up and needing to wait for Ron the Sewer Rat to come and take care of it. But that seems unseemly to talk about in the same paragraph as food...

Ribs! There was that one set of ribs that I made in a smoker, but this was my first attempt at oven baking them. It was simple and they turned out great. Not quite as amazing as the smoked ones (those were to die for), but close. I also used a marinade rather than a dry rub this time, primarily because I didn't have any onion powder and decided to just blend up some onion instead.

Pork Ribs!
2-3 lbs St Louis style (or baby back) ribs
1/4 c (half a small) onion
1 T raw honey
1 T warm water 
1 T cumin 
1 T paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper

Here they are covered in the marinade.

1. Chop/grind the onion in a food processor, and add the remaining ingredients until a thick paste is formed. Spread it all over both sides of the ribs, wrap in plastic or put in a ziplock and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Get two large pieces of tin foil and set the ribs in the middle of the first one. Make sure the ribs are spread out/not folded over. Cover the ribs with your second piece of foil and crimp the edges so you create a nice seal and put the foil package on a cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I removed the top piece of foil in the last 15 minutes of cooking just to dry them out a bit, and also spread on some paleo bbq sauce on top.
3. Let rest for a few minutes after removing from the oven and serve!

I also made some Really Good Slaw to go with - I didn't measure much, but here is a general idea. Note: This slaw gets better with a little sitting, so if you can make it a few hours in advance, all the better. 

Really Good Slaw
1/4 head green cabbage
1 carrot
1/2 red pepper
1 large shallot
handful of parsley, chopped
Homemade mayo
Mustard
Cider Vinegar
Salt & pepper

1. Using a mandoline, slice the cabbage, carrots, red pepper and shallot very thinly. You may need to also just slice or finely chop the shallot depending on your mandoline. Put veggies in a medium sized bowl along with parsley.
2. In a small bowl, mix together about 1/2 c. mayo with 2-3 T cider vinegar and another 1-2 T mustard. Add salt and pepper to taste. It should be tangy and a bit creamy. Pour dressing over the veggies and stir to combine.

Polish Sausage with Cababage and Onions

Kramarczuk's makes long sausages!

My Charming Companion picked up a road kill deer a couple of months ago that was slightly sketchy...the meat was not at all bad, it's guts had just slightly ruptured so that the meat got a tinge of gut small/taste. That does not bode well for eating unless you add a lot of spice, so he brought 50 pounds of it to Kramarczuk's in Northeast Minneapolis to make twice that amount of polish sausage.

It's a pretty traditional polish that is smoked and salty. I think it is really good mixed with cabbage and onions for lunch, or I've had it in some breakfast things. Because it is fast and easy, it's become my fave lunch of late. I saute up a bunch of onions and cabbage, add in sliced sausage to sear/heat, and pack it in my insulated lunchbot with some sauerkraut. Yum! It's a good winter meal that uses the still abundant local cabbage and onions. Any polish flavored sausage would be good here - or an andouille or other flavor too.

Polish Sausage with Cabbage and Onions (1 serving)

1 polish sausage link, sliced
1/2 large onion, sliced
1-2 cups green cabbage, sliced thin
1-2 T ghee (preferred), lard or coconut oil
sauerkraut to serve

1. Melt 1+ T fat in a medium to large sized cast iron skillet on medium heat. Add onions and saute 2 minutes before adding cabbage. You want the cabbage and onions to brown slightly, so let them sear in the pan before stirring. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring every so often so they don't burn.
2. Meanwhile, melt just enough fat in a second, smaller skillet so that the polish sausage slices will not stick. Lay slices in a single layer on skillet and cook about 3-4 minutes on each side so that they are warm and seared.
3. Add sausage pieces to cabbage mix. Cabbage mixture is ready after a total of 20 minutes or so: it should be limp, but also brown in some places and just a tiny bit crunchy. Serve with sauerkraut and mustard. (Or pack in your lunchbot all ready to eat!)

*Another way I've been enjoying these sausages is chopped up with sweet potato and onion to make a hash of sorts - topped with fried eggs. I still have some fresh herbs from my garden that I have just kept in a container in the fridge. The sage, rosemary, and thyme are all still just fine in there?! So I added some sage and thyme to this too. So easy and delicious.

Kitfo

I am not sure how to best convey the amazing-ness of this dish, except that it is perhaps the best thing I have eaten lately - right up there with those raw oysters, but better?! (And at home versus out at a fancy restaurant!) It combines warm, browned butter with onions and red pepper, incredible spices, and really nice raw meat. I nearly swooned while eating it, and have been plotting about when I can have it again. If you have been hesitant about raw meat before, this might be the gateway recipe!

Kitfo is a traditional ethiopian dish that is eaten at room temperature, which I enjoy SO much more than a cooler steak tartare (I had no idea until I'd had it this way). The spices and the browning butter smell incredible and waft through the kitchen: ginger and cardamom, chili and fenugreek.

I will confess that my only role in this meal was to discover Kitfo and pass along a few recipes. My Charming Companion actually cooked it, along with a really good (and super simple) cabbage side dish while I took a nap on the couch! The recipe here is a blend of several variations found from a search for kitfo recipes. Certainly any of them will be good, but below is the recipe as I ate it. Mine actually used the steak from a deer that was a really young fawn, so it was probably as tender as possibly available, which made this melt in my mouth. My Charming Companion's turmeric cabbage dish is also below. It used a bunch of green onions from the garden and went perfectly with the kitfo for a very ethiopian style dinner, sans the injera.

Kitfo
1 lb round steak
10 T (or one stick + 2 T) butter
1/3-1/2 c onions, chopped small
1/4 c red pepper, chopped small
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp chili flakes (or cayenne)
1/2 tsp fenugreek
pinch cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 T+ fresh lemon juice
2 T fresh chives, chopped
salt to taste

1. You want to serve your meat at room temperature, but it is easier to chop the meat when it is still a bit frozen. Ideally, you will chop the meat an hour or so before dinner: use a sharp knife and mince just as it is defrosting and still a little frozen. Let it sit out on the counter to fully defrost and get to room temp for dinner. If you don't have that kind of time, you can mince it at room temp and just have it be a little wily, or you can try to warm it very very slowly in a pan over low heat being careful not to cook it at all. (Some people do eat this slightly cooked, so you could do that if you prefer.)

Chopped raw steak!

2. Melt better on medium heat in a small saucepan. Once it is melted, add onion, red pepper and spices and let simmer 10-15 minutes. You want the butter to brown, basically as if you were making ghee with lots of stuff in it! Be sure to stir every so often.

Simmering spiced butter - smells SO good!

3. Add lemon juice and chives for the last couple of minutes. Stir butter mixture into your now room temp meat and serve!

Turmeric Cabbage
3 T coconut oil
1/3 head green cabbage, sliced/chopped thin
bunch of green onions, chopped
1 T turmeric
salt to taste

Melt coconut oil in large skillet. Once it is melted, add cabbage and sautee for 10 minutes on low heat. Add green onions and saute another few minutes before adding turmeric and salt. Stir to coat, and continue cooking another couple of minutes before serving.

Breakfast "taco" salad

Well, the winter kinda just keeps coming. I put my winter boots and ski shoes away last week, only to go get them out again on Monday morning. I am happy for all the precipitation though - the farmers will be resting much easier now than a few months ago when it looked like pure drought. I am starting to wonder when the spring green onions will get to show themselves, and when I'll be able to get some seeds in the ground! It's looking like it will be well into April before the soil is thawing. I did come across this handy guide to dates for planting vegetables from the U of MN extension though, just to get the ideas percolating.

I usually try to get in a big bunch of veggies in the morning - reference past piles of food or carrot porridge - and typically that means I cook a bunch early. The time change means that I am generally eating breakfast with the sunrise, which feels quite lovely. The other morning I was not in the mood to cook, and instead made a big delicious salad with bacon-y eggs and some homemade salsa from last fall. It was sort of like a breakfast burrito, without the burrito. And a little reminiscent of the Modern Times' amazing lime-cabbage slaw, which I LOVE. Because it was largely raw, it had a fresh, spring like quality. Which you know - bring it on. It is the equinox afterall!

Breakfast salad (use however much you are hungry for)
Purple cabbage, sliced thin
Green onion, chopped thin
Parsley or cilantro, chopped
fresh lime juice
olive oil
2-3 eggs
bacon
salsa
salt

1. Slice the cabbage as thin as you can manage, and toss in a bowl with chopped green onion and parsley or cilantro. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the top, sprinkle salt, and drizzle with olive oil.
2. Chop bacon and saute in a cast iron skillet on medium until crispy, about 5-8 minutes. Pour in 2 whisked eggs, salt and cook until done. Add a good amount of salsa to eggs towards end of cooking, or alternatively, spoon salsa over salad.
3. Serve eggs with salsa over cabbage slaw.
*This would of course be amazing with avocado if you wanted to go really wild!

Chou Farci (Cabbage Cake)

The Smitten Kitchen had a lovely post about stuffed cabbage recently - and it inspired me to do a bit more research into some of them. I now have a long list of stuffed cabbage items to make - including Sarma, an eastern European roll that is made using fermented cabbage leaves. Sauerkraut as a whole cabbage?! I have never heard of this, but have hopes to try fermenting some cabbage heads this summer.

What I did settle on immediately (though all the local cabbage is finally depleted at the co-op, so it is California stuff from here until July) is Chou Farci, a French cabbage roll that is actually more like a cabbage cake. Or maybe sausage pie. It is beautiful, and uses savoy cabbage, which I have never had the pleasure of meeting in any intimate terms until now.

The ingredients are simple, so you want a solid, good tasting sausage of any variety. I used my homemade Bangers, but you could use anything that you like - just remove the meat from the casing. The Seward seems to be making some pretty amazing sausages lately, so that might be worth a try. I modified the original recipe to be in American measuring terms, but didn't change it other than to add just a bit more meat. This was SO stunning to serve on a plate - I wished I had company to eat it with!

Chou Farci (serves 4)

 Blanched savoy leaves

1 large savoy cabbage
1 1/4 lb. sausage (you could easily do more or less here)
1/2 t fennel seed
2 T butter or ghee
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Set a LARGE pot of salted water on high heat to boil and preheat the oven to 350.
2. Remove 7 outer leaves from the cabbage - these should be the largest, most handsome ones of the bunch. Discard any outer leaves that are damaged or wilted. Once the water is boiling, submerge all 7 leaves in it for a 2 minute blanch. Pull leaves out with a slotted spoon or tongs, and lay on a surface flat to dry.
3. Cut the remaining cabbage head/core into quarters. Put them in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Squeeze out excess water, then remove the tough core part from each quarter. Chop what is left, or just pull the leaves apart. Toss them in a bowl with olive oil, fennel, and salt and pepper.
4. Using 1 T of butter or ghee, cover the surface of a rounded oven-proof pot about 8" wide and 3" tall (or something slightly larger in diameter and shorter - you just want the largest cabbage leaf to fit in the bottom with overlap up the sides). Lay the largest, prettiest cabbage leaf in the bottom so that the edges curve up the sides. Then lay the remaining 6 leaves, stem side down, overlapping one another around the dish. (I forgot to take a photo of this step, but there is a nice one in the original recipe.)
5. Place 1/3 of the cabbage filling at the bottom of the pan on top of the cabbage leaves. Top with half the sausage. Repeat so that you end with the cabbage filling on top, and then fold the leaves over so that they create a "tidy parcel." Dot with last Tablespoon of butter/ghee. Bake in the 350 degree oven for one hour.

Before going in the oven

After the oven!

6. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes to set. Over the sink (due to hot juices), invert the Chou Farci onto a plate and behold the beauty of the savoy cabbage leaf! Serve with cauliflower potatoes for the ultimate comfort meal.

Kalua McPig

I did not grow up eating corned beef and cabbage, Irish stews, or soda bread - my grandmother appears to have been of the generation that abandoned any cultural food dishes and instead favored the food of Whiteness and convenience: white bread, velveeta, canned vegetables, cream of mushroom soup and potato flakes. Of all the parts of my ancestry, the Irish one is the least evident in my growing up years in terms of some tangible cultural food. There was lefse (Norwegian), kolaches (Czech), and my maternal grandfather calling my sister's and I "kartoffelschnitz" for our love of potatoes (German). But nothing stands out as Irish. There was of course my red hair, my grandmother's maiden name O'Neal, and the large Catholic family of 11 kids, but no special foods. I don't think I even ate cabbage (other than cole slaw, which I didn't like) until college.

My Charming Companion is a medly of ancestry too - including Hawaiian, Chinese, and Swedish. Kalua pig is a popular Hawaiian dish - which traditionally means that the pig cooks slowly under ground, wrapped in leaves in a large pit heated by hot rocks and coals. The pork is flavored only by Hawaiian salt, which is brownish red, just like the soil in Hawaii, and the smokiness of the wood.

So, the ultimate blend of Hawaiian-Irish cuisine? Kalua pig with cabbage! Not cooked in a hole in the ground, but in the next best thing - the crock pot. The ultimate flavor is simple and super tasty. I put a little sauerkraut on top to add some tang, but this was total comfort food of buttery tasting cabbage with tender, melt in your mouth pork.

Kalua McPig
3-5 lb. pork butt or shoulder
1 1/2-2 lbs cabbage (about 2 small heads of cabbage)
1/2 c. water
1 t. liquid smoke (opt)
Hawaiian salt

1. Chop about 1 lb of cabbage. This will go in right away, and the rest will be added once the first batch has cooked down. Place a layer of cabbage on the bottom of the crock pot.
2. Rub salt over the pork, and set it on the cabbage in the crock pot (fat side up if there is a fat layer). Fill in any remaining space with cabbage, add the water and liquid smoke if using, put on the lid, and turn the crock pot on!
3. Set the crock pot to low and cook at least 8 hours, or ideally 10-12. After several hours, give the cabbage a stir/rotation so that the stuff on top can cook in the liquid at the bottom. You can add the rest of the cabbage at any point when there is room, just make sure to stir every so often so that all the cabbage gets cooked in the liquid.
4. After your 8-12 hours, remove the pork and shred to mix in the fat and meat, or just separate into chunks. Serve in a bowl on top of the cabbage. 

Paleo Venison-Braised Burritos

Last year my friend Conrad made me a fajita dinner where he used Cabbage leaves as the taco shell. Up until that time, I had tried to use lettuce leaves as the "tortilla" - or I just made a big taco salad of sorts. Cabbage leaf as tortilla = Fantastic.

I also wanted to try a recipe from Nom Nom Palo for Oven-Braised Mexican Beef - which is a slow-cooked (3 hours) recipe that includes some salsa, chicken broth, chili powder, onions, etc. The meat turned out very tasty, though I wanted even more spice. I'll make this again, but will really amp up the spices - I found that I wanted more of a mole sauce with chocolate and chipotle. (I ended up sprinkling unsweetened chocolate powder on there, which added a nice touch.) I wondered if people make beef mole sauce, and it turns out they do, though of course chicken is most common. Until I get to my own beef mole, here is her recipe that I used (which is very easy) with slight modifications:

Oven-Braised Mexican Beef (or Venison):

Nom Nom Paleo's lovely photo

2½ pounds boneless beef short ribs, brisket, or stew meat cut into 1½-inch cubes
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon chipotle
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil or fat of choice
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed (optional)
2 T unsweetened chocolate powder, or 2 oz. 80% chocolate
½ cup roasted salsa (I used my homemade salsa and then added some liquid smoke)
½ cup chicken stock
½ teaspoon gf fish sauce (I used some anchovy paste)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees; position oven rack in bottom 1/3 of oven.
2. In a large bowl blend beef, spices, and salt. Stir to cover meat evenly.
3. In a large casserole dish, melt fat and add onions. When translucent, add tomato paste, garlic, and chocolate. Stir and cook for 30 seconds to coat onions. Add beef, salsa, stock and fish sauce/anchovy paste. Bring to a boil.
4. Cover and place in oven for 3 hours or until beef is tender. Taste for seasoning and adjust in needed.

I served mine with some sauteed peppers, more salsa, and lettuce, all wrapped in steamed red cabbage leaves. To steam the cabbage leaves, it works best to put the whole cabbage head in a large steamer pot. Cut out the core first, and then set the cabbage core side down in the steamer. After 15 minutes, the outer layers should easily peel off. Continue steaming to get more layers, and stop whenever you have enough. You can lay the fixings inside and wrap it up, or you can do a tight roll. Photo here is the looser variety (with a different filling, but you get the idea!) *You can do this with raw cabbage too, it just tears as it comes off of the cabbage.

Breakfast Veggie Pile-up

The garden is in full swing with green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and various other greens. Exciting! I've been eating lots of veggies for breakfast lately - always in the form of some sauteed veggie medley topped with either fried or scrambled eggs. It feels really decadent to eat so many vegetables for breakfast, and it is surprisingly easy. And you can use just about anything. I always make the veggie mix on my fave cast iron skillet, starting with the onions and slower cooking veggies, and adding in whatever else I am using so it all finishes about the same time. Then I dump the veggies onto my plate, put a little ghee in the pan, and cook up a few eggs to go on top.

This one was beets (from my co-worker's CSA), red cabbage, onion, and a little bit of sweet potato and bacon. I put a little homemade mustard in with the veggies too.

Greenery! There is zucchini, green beans, onions, basil, and kale in this one - everything was from the garden but the onions. I cooked some basil in with the scrambled eggs too, and put a little lemon juice on the greens while they cooked.

This photo got my breakfast table in addition to my plate - ah well.  This one was zucchini, bacon, onion, green beans, chives, and a leafy green called Tyfon Holland greens from the garden. They cook down pretty small (like spinach)- and are super good to throw in just about anything.