Vegetables – Angelgrrl

Red Cabbage Obsession

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I’m not sure why I get a specific vegetable obsessions from time to time, but lately I have been eating a lot of red cabbage. I’ve always not minded cabbage. I love cabbage rolls and corned beef with cabbage but lately I’ve really been appreciating red cabbage especially when it is cooked until just tender but still has a bit of a crunch. When cooked this way, it has a sweetness but also a veggie-ness that I’m really loving right now.

My red cabbage affair started a couple weeks ago when I had some left over from taco night and needed to use it. I was grilling chicken and other veggies and I cut cross-sections of the remaining red cabbage, put some olive oil, salt, and pepper on it and it was so good after being grilled. Since then, I’ve experimented with applying various rubs or glazes on cross-sections of the cabbage before grilling or roasting it (side note: cabbage will grill or roast fairly quickly, on a grill or in a 350 degree oven my cooking time has been anywhere between 5-15min). Besides the simple olive oil, salt, and pepper application my favorite thing has been applying mustard in various ways to the outside before cooking. Dijon by itself is great. Dijon and honey together is good but might be a little sweet combined with the cabbage to some. Spicy mustard is excellent. My next move is to either braise or marinate and grill the cabbage in beer, Worcestershire, a dash of mustard, and I’m thinking about adding a bit of red pepper flakes along with some salt of course (I’m thinking chopping and braising is what I’ll try since I’ve already grilled it quite a bit). Oh red cabbage!… how you intrigue me. You can bore me to death in salads sometimes yet excite the hell out of me in general.

Cauliflower Obsession

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I used to be wary of cauliflower. I think the overall appearance seemed bland and boring so I avoided it. Also, I feel like it is more likely than not to come across cauliflower that is ill-prepared and that doesn’t help the case for cauliflower either. I feel like that could be said for a lot of veggies. However, give cauliflower a chance. I did and now I can’t stop eating it. I’ll roast it in the oven. I’ll blanch it. I’ll cut center cross sections, marinate, and grill it. It really does make a good pseudo mashed potato (especially blended with parmesan and some garlic roasted in olive oil). I’ve even blended it to thicken and enhance a vegetable soup.

One of the bigger local farms around here has had amazing cauliflower the past month. I’ve tried their regular, orange, and purple cauliflower along with their broccoflower. The purple cauliflower and broccoflower are definitley good but they do not have a very distinct flavor. They both taste somewhere between broccoli and cauliflower but they have beautiful color and are a feast for the eyes prepared properly. The orange cauliflower is my favorite. Not only is it interesting to look at, it has a very subtle sweetness that is somewhat similar to the sweetness of a carrot or bell pepper. My favorite way to eat any cauliflower is roasted in the oven with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. When Gar ate the orange cauliflower prepared this way for the first time he said it reminded him of something grilled with a little bit of BBQ sauce. It was not something that had crossed my mind but I could see why he would say that.