Red cabbage: A vegetable side that acts like the main attraction

Recipe: Braised red cabbage

Not just a pretty face, red cabbage tastes fabulous cooked this way and it's wonderfully good for you! Simple to make, it can be vegetarian or not, it's gluten free, and it can stand alone on a night when you feel like a simple dinner that satisfies. Or it can be part of something bigger. Wouldn't you love to eat some tonight? Here's how to do it.

Braised Red Cabbage

In a medium Dutch oven, saute two slices of bacon, cut up. When the bacon pieces are nearly crisp, remove them to drain on a paper towel. Leave the bacon fat in the pot. If you want your dish to be vegetarian, skip the bacon and substitute 1 tablespoon good olive oil.

Core and cut a medium head of red cabbage into bite-sized pieces or coleslaw-like strips. Put all in the pot. Add:

• 1/2 large onion sliced medium thick
• 4 tablespoons butter cut in chunks
• 1-1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/3 cup red wine (something like zinfandel or cabernet)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Add the cooked bacon pieces if using and combine gently with a wooden spoon.

Turn your oven on to 375 degrees F. Bring the pot to a boil on top of the stove, then turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered while the oven heats up. Cover the pot and put it into the oven for one hour.

Braised red cabbage is delicious by itself, or with sausage or any kind of meat. It would be wonderful with roasted new potatoes. It would be good with a little goat cheese sprinkled over it. Use your imagination. Buon appetito! 

Having it your way with Brussels sprouts

Recipes: Quinoa (or brown rice) with Brussels sprouts

Everyone knows Brussels sprouts are good for you. But does everyone run right out looking for Brussels sprouts? No. Some otherwise very smart people even think they don't like them. 

I happen to love Brussels sprouts, but I've also found a few really good ways to make them for people who are not so sure. Here's one you can make for any sprouts-naysayer with confidence and love. And think of all the good nutrition you're serving up! What a fabulous person you are!

Quinoa with Brussels Sprouts (brown rice variation follows)

I chose quinoa because it too is super-nutritious and very easy to make.

• Brussels sprouts, sliced moderately thin
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water

Note: Slicing the Brussels sprouts is the secret, making them disappear into the sauce and become milder in taste.
In a medium saucepan or Dutch oven, melt butter and add olive oil to heat. Add the onion and saute a few minutes over medium heat until soft. Add sliced Brussels sprouts and cook for 5 or 6 minutes, until they are soft too.

Add quinoa to the vegetables and cook, stirring, for one minute to toast the quinoa a bit. Add the water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to simmer, cover the pot, and let cook until the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Let it sit, covered with the heat off, for 10 more minutes. Serve with any meat or fish, or on its own with a salad.

Brown Rice variation

Make exactly the same as the quinoa version, except use brown rice and, if you prefer, substitute chicken stock for water. Either way, heat the stock or water before adding it to the rice, and cook for 40 minutes instead of 15. 

Buon appetito!!

Why not try . . . fennel?

Recipes: Braised fennel and leeks, Fennel salad, Grilled fennel

Don't we love vegetables!? Yes we do, but sometimes we get just a teeny bit tired of the vegetables we love. Same old, same old. That's why it's fun to try something new.

Of course I already knew about fennel. I'd eaten it in restaurants mixed in with other things, but I'd never cooked with it. Wasn't it very licorice-y? I do like black licorice, but that's candy. Wouldn't it be too strong and maybe sweet? It just didn't seem like it would be good as a vegetable.

Oh, how wrong I was!

Braised Fennel and Leeks

• 2 medium or 3 small leeks
• 1 small to medium fennel bulb
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup good chicken stock, or vegetable stock if you want to make this dish vegetarian
• 2 tablespoons butter

Cut ends off the leeks and cut them in half lengthwise. Wash them very carefully as they often harbor sand. Then cut them in half crosswise and arrange them in a medium skillet or dish that can go both on the burner of the stove and in the oven.

Cut the stalks off the fennel bulb and cut the bulb in half lenthwise. Cut slices or wedges from the bulb halves, no thicker than the pieces of leek. Arrange the fennel in the dish with the leeks.

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees F. 

Pour the chicken stock over the vegetables and sprinkle the butter cut in pieces over it all. Add a small amount of sea salt and a good grind of pepper. Heat over medium flame until the liquid boils, then turn down the flame and cook for a minute or two while the oven finishes heating.

Turn off the flame and cover the skillet/dish loosely with aluminum foil. Place in the heated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the liquid turns syrupy and the vegetables are very tender.

Serve next to anything - meats, rice, even pasta. You'll find it has the tiniest, most delicate, hint of aniseYum!!!

Fennel and Arugula Salad

Arugula and shaved or very thinly sliced fennel bulbs are wonderful tossed with a light vinaigrette made with sea salt, a little freshly ground pepper, 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Variations on this theme can add to the deliciousness - sliced radishes and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese are especially good.

Grilled Fennel

Cut off the leafy tops and stem ends of fennel bulbs. Cut the bulbs in half lengthwise and cut each half into two or three equal wedges. Salt them and steam them for about 20 minutes, until the fennel is tender but still intact.

Make a small vinaigrette for brushing on the wedges before and after grilling: A few chopped fennel fronds, a tablespoon or so of extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a little chopped anchovy if you wish. 

Thread the steamed wedges on long skewers and brush with the oil mixture plus season with salt and pepper. Grill over prepared coals until nicely browned, turning frequently. Brush again with oil mixture just before serving.

Five ways to eat more cauliflower (be good to your body!)

Recipes: Curried cauliflower, Cauliflower sformato, Cauliflower with egg and parsley, Spaghetti con cavolfiori, Roasted cauliflower with romesco

Cauliflower is so delicious, but haven't you often wondered what to do with it next? Long a staple of crudite plates (raw), or overcooked in cheese sauce (mushy), it always seems there must be some easy and delicious way to cook that gorgeous snowy hunk of goodness that will be just right, that will bring out all its wonderful taste without the ho-hum boredom.

Cauliflower is right up there with broccoli when it comes to health benefits - anti-oxident, anti-inflammatory, and heart-healthy. It's definitely worth pursuing good ways to cook and serve it! Other cultures use cauliflower as an ingredient more than we do in the U.S., and it's more versatile than you'd think. Many of the recipes below come from around the world - from France, from Italy, from Spain, from India. Sometimes sauces are involved, sometimes the cauliflower is roasted, sometimes it's sauteed, and sometimes it's gently simmered until al dente, to borrow a term from pasta. These five recipes will give you a place to start, and then you can let your imagination or your online search skills run from there.

Curried Cauliflower

Adapted from Pierre Franey's More 60-Minute Gourmet

I served this dish recently with a roasted chicken and an accompanying dish of brussels sprouts with bacon and blue cheese. It was a fantastic meal!

• 1 small head or 1/2 large head of cauliflower, all except the smallest leaves removed and discarded
• A splash of milk, whole or 2%
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots or yellow onions
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter

Cut away and discard the stem and heavy core of the cauliflower. Break the cauliflower into large florets. Put the pieces into a saucepan and add cold water just to cover. Add the milk and salt. Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender but not soft (test it with the tip of a paring knife). Drain it and return the cauliflower to the saucepan.

Using the side of a heavy spoon, chop the pieces of cauliflower until they are coarse pieces. Add the shallots (onions), curry powder, and cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, until piping hot.

Turn off the heat and stir in the butter. Serve hot or warm.

Cauliflower Sformato

I've posted this recipe before and it's definitely worth repeating. It's from one of the great Italian cooks and teachers, Marcella Hazan. Il sformato in Italian is a vegetable pie. Be prepared to be wowed - it's a little more work, but this is one that will become a favorite.

• 1 medium cauliflower
• 3 tablespoons butter plus butter for smearing the baking dish
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup whole milk (not skim)
• 2 large eggs
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus a couple of tablespoons for sprinkling
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Trim away most of the cauliflower's outer leaves, keeping just the layer of tender leaves close to the head. Cut off a thin slice from the stem end and cut a cross into the root. Wash the cauliflower in cold water. Bring to a boil enough water to amply cover it and drop in the cauliflower. Cook about 20 minutes. Drain when it feels tender but firm when prodded with a fork.

When the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, cut it into small pieces, the root end into smaller pieces than the rest.

In a skillet that is large enough to eventually hold all the cauliflower pieces in one layer, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the cauliflower pieces and turn them over for a minute or two to coat all the pieces well. Transfer the cauliflower to a bowl and set it aside to cool.

Make a bechamel sauce. First, heat the milk in the microwave, or in a saucepan, until it is just short of boiling. Be sure to watch it, as it can boil over easily. Then in a separate heavy saucepan, melt one tablespoon of the butter. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a small whisk. Add the hot milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly as you do. When you have added half the hot milk in small increments, add the remaining half all at once, stirring steadily. Cook over low heat until the sauce is the density of thick cream. Turn off the heat.

Break the eggs into a separate bowl and beat them lightly with a fork.

Put all but 3 or 4 tablespoons of the bechamel into the bowl with the cold cauliflower. Add the beaten eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, liberal grindings of black pepper, the grated nutmeg, and 2/3 cup grated Parmesan. Turn over all ingredients thoroughly with a large spoon.

Thinly smear the inside of a baking dish (like a deep dish pie plate) with butter. Empty the contents of the bowl with the cauliflower pieces into it, leveling them off with a spatula. Spread the remaining 3 or 4 tablespoons of bechamel over the top, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan and a very light sprinkling of cayenne pepper.

Bake in the preheated oven until a light golden crust forms on top, about 30 minutes. Let it settle for several minutes after removing it from the oven. Serve lukewarm.

Cauliflower with Egg and Parsley (in French, Chou-fleur Mimosa)

From Pierre Franey's More 60-Minute Gourmet

This dish is like a room-temperature vegetable salad. It's very pretty as well as delicious.
 

• 1 small cauliflower
• A splash of milk, whole or 2%
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon Dijon or Dusseldorf mustard
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Trim off the leaves of the cauliflower and cut away the thickest part of the core. Put the cauliflower in a saucepan with water to barely cover. Add the milk and salt. Bring to the boil and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender but not mushy (test it with the tip of a paring knife). Do not overcook.

Drain and let cool until ready to serve. Do not chill.

Meanwhile, as the cauliflower cooks, hard-boil the egg. In a small saucepan, put the egg and cold water to cover it. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat off and put the cover on the pan. Let it sit, covered, for 12 minutes. Drain it and run cold water over the egg until it cools down. You can let it sit in cold water until you're ready to peel it.

The original recipe says to put the peeled hard-boiled egg through a fine sieve into a small bowl. I find this endlessly tedious, so instead I chop the egg with an egg slicer or a paring knife and then use a fork to mash it into small pieces. Take your pick. Add the mustard and vinegar to the sieved or mashed up egg. Gradually add the oil, beating briskly with a wire whisk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the parsley and mix well.

Cut the cauliflower into medium pieces. Put it in your serving dish and spoon the sauce over it. Serve at room temperature.

Spaghetti con Cavolfiori

Of course con cavolfiori means "with cauliflower" in Italian, and this recipe is from a wonderful little book called 99 Ways to Cook Pasta by Flora and Robert Alda, Sicilian and Italian-American actors, and the parents of Alan Alda, an American actor well-known for his role in the TV series **Mash**. In the introduction to this section, Pasta with Vegetables, Flora Alda says this is a good way to get children to eat vegetables. I think it's a good way to get anyone to eat vegetables - so delicious!

• 1 small cauliflower
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Scant 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 3 anchovy filets packed in oil, diced
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry

• 2 tablespoons sea salt
• 1/2 pound spaghetti, either regular, whole wheat, or gluten free
• 6 tablespoons grated parmigiano cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Wash and clean the cauliflower, and cut into large florets. Save some of the smaller leaves. Boil the florets in water to cover with the teaspoon of salt, until about half cooked. Drain, but save the water. You will use it later to cook the pasta.

In a large skillet, melt the butter, add the oil, then the anchovies and the garlic and onion. Saute over a low flame until the anchovies are melted and the garlic and onion are a golden brown. Cut the partly cooked cauliflower in small forets, chop the leaves and add them all to the skillet. Cook until it is golden. Add the sherry, cover, and cook for 1 minute more. Turn off the flame.

Combine the reserved cauliflower water with fresh water to make a large pot and bring it to a boil. Add the salt and the pasta. Cook until al dente, i.e. just barely done (taste it - the only way to tell), then drain thoroughly.

Add the pasta to the cauliflower sauce and toss gently in the skillet. Cook all ingredients together for 2 minutes, tossing gently, adding the cheese and black pepper as you toss.

Place all in a large warmed serving bowl, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.

Roasted Cauliflower with Romesco

Roasted Cauliflower
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and cut the large leaves off a small cauliflower. Leave any pretty small leaves, as they are tasty. Cutting through the whole cauliflower, slice it into 1/4 inch slices.

Lay the slices in one layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the slices begin to brown, about 20 minutes.

Serve drizzled with romesco sauce.

Romesco sauce
Romesco is a classic Catalan bell pepper sauce, flavored with ground almonds, tomatoes, and sherry vinegar. It's wonderful with roasted and grilled vegetables or with warmed chickpeas, It's also a favorite as a dip with raw vegetables because of its vivid flavor and color. This version comes from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Romesco sauce

• 1 large red bell pepper, roasted, skinned, and cut into pieces
• 1 slice country-style white bread
• Olive oil for frying
• 1/4 cup almonds, roasted
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, roasted and peeled (or use a total of 1/2 cup almonds, if hazelnuts are hard to come by)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground red chile (like New Mexico or Ancho chile powder) or 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 4 Roma tomatoes, or 1 cup canned chopped tomatoes, drained well
• 1 tablespoon parsley leaves
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (Spanish is best for this, if you can get it)

Tear the bread into pieces and fry it in a little olive oil until it's golden and crisp. When cool, grind the bread, nuts, garlic, and chile in a food processor. Add everything else but the vinegar and oil and process until smooth. With the processor running, gradually pour in the vinegar, then the oil. Taste to be sure the sauce has plenty of piquancy and enough salt.