Cabbage!

For the last two years, my husband and I have belonged to Angelic Organics, a community supported agriculture (CSA) program in Northern Illinois. We purchased a share which we split with another couple, and we get more delicious local organic veggies every week than we would ever have if we were on our own to shop for them. We get things we know very well how to eat (potatoes, hierloom tomatoes, broccoli, garlic), things we've had to learn how to eat (lemon balm, green tomatoes, beets), and things we have yet to learn to eat (sunchokes, multiple heads of cabbage). Now I know how to make a pretty good cole slaw, but that was about the extent of my cabbage "cooking" ability. I have been afraid to cook it with any heat, with my mental images of limp grey watery blah-ness, which I refused to even consider serving. I tried a schezwan style stir fry, but it wasn't very good. I wasted more of last year's cabbage than I care to admit, because two people can only eat so much slaw, and this year I decided to find a delicious recipe and eat all of the cabbage bestowed upon us by our wonderful CSA. The secret, my friends, is bacon.

Creamy Braised Cabbage
(I doubled everything because I had two heads of cabbage, one red and one green, and it turned out fine.)

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onions
3-4 strips of bacon, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1-14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 head cabbage -- cored, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons parsley sprigs -- chopped (I used dried)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch
salt and black pepper

Melt your butter in a dutch oven or other oven-and-stove-top-safe dish and throw in your bacon. Cook until it is just starting to crisp up, then add your onion and saute until tender. Stir in the flour and cook for about a minute. Add the canned tomatoes (with the juice) and chicken stock and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Add cabbage, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for five minutes, then cover and place in preheated 375-degree oven for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally so the top layer of cabbage doesn't dry out. Pull it out of the oven. You want your cabbage sort of wilty, but still a tiny bit crunchy, kind of al dente. Blend your cornstarch into the sour cream and stir in 1/2 cup of liquid from cabbage. Pour over the cabbage and put your pot into the oven again, uncovered, for about 15 minutes longer. Eat it and enjoy it.

Next time I might add a little parmesan cheese to the top, and maybe some crispy bacon to sprinkle on top right before serving. Mmm. Wouldn't that be good? More bacon! In fact, I might do that with some of the leftovers tonight. Because I can't wait to eat this stuff, it is so delicious.

I don't have any photos because I am lazy and I don't like to stall eating. Maybe next time.