Cabbage Capers

One of my true-love’s favorite vegetables is the lowly cabbage. He’s happy with plain old green cabbage chopped in fairly large bite-size pieces and simmered with salt and plenty of black pepper. Sometimes we vary it sprinkling in a little turmeric to give it an enticing golden color. Even that little bit of turmeric should aid our aging memories somewhat.

For a quickly prepared, easy upgrade to near gourmet status, and make it more fun to cook, I shred Savoy cabbage and add a couple of spoonfuls of capers and a handful of thin-sliced ham cut in little squares. This transforms the flavor.

Cabbage with Capers and Ham
3 to 4 servings

6 cups coarsely chopped Savoy cabbage
3 teaspoons capers
4 slices thin-sliced ham, cut in ½-inch dice
1 cup chicken broth or
1 cup water plus
1 teaspoon chicken granules Salt and pepper to taste

Bring everything to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer until cabbage is very tender and flavors blended.

By the way, ham is low on the inflammation index, and both the ham and the cabbage rate zero on the glycemic index. Capers aren’t listed, but their vegetable nature guarantees a zero for them, too.

Another treatment we like to give cabbage is to wrap it around a chopped meat mixture and cook it in a broth of tomato sauce and water, tomato juice, or V8 juice. Many cultures have versions of stuffed cabbage. Here is a Greek one.

Lahana Dolmathes
3 to 4 servings

1 medium size cabbage
2 Tablespoons butter or light olive oil
½ pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
¼ cup long grain rice
½ cup boiling water
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
½ cup water
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley or 1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

With a sharp knife, cut out the core of the cabbage. Immerse the cabbage, core side down, in a large saucepan or stockpot of boiling, salted water. Boil 10 minutes, until outer leaves are tender enough to remove without tearing. Drain. Set aside to cool enough to handle.

Prepare the stuffing. Heat half the butter or oil and brown the ground beef an onion in it, breaking up the meat so that it cooks looks like meat grains. Add the half cup of boiling water, rice, parsley, cinnamon, garlic, and salt and pepper, plus half the tomato sauce. Simmer about 10 minutes, until rice is half done.

While the meat and its seasonings simmer, remove cabbage leaves. Brush the bottom of a deep pot with oil and line it with the largest cabbage leaves to keep the dolmathes from burning. Place a rounded tablespoon of meat mixture bout 1/2-inch from the cut end of each leaf. Fold the cut end over the stuffing. Roll it up lightly and pin it closed with a toothpick or two. Save leftover cabbage for another dish.

Place stuffed leaves in the pan, covering the layer of unstuffed leaves. Dot with dabs of butter. Put a plate atop the dolmathes. I weight the plate with my cooking rock, a clean, roundish hunk of granite about 3 inches across.

Combine the rest of the tomato sauce with the lemon juice and some hot water. You want enough liquid to just cover the plate’s rim.

Cover. Simmer for 1 ½ hours. With slotted spoon, transfer each dolmathe to a platter. Garnish with lemon slices if desired. Serve the sauce separately, or put the dolmathes into a dish deep enough to hold the sauce and pour it over the dolmathes.

GERMAN STUFFED CABBAGE: Lay half-cooked cabbage leaves in a circle, with the tips overlapping a bit in the center, on a dampened cloth napkin with the cut ends to the outside. Add the meat mixture above. Bring up the four corners of the napkin and tie them together. Put a wooden spoon through the knot. Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Lay the wooden spoon across the rim of the pot. The filled napkin should be partly immersed. Loosely covered pot and cook on medium heat for 1 ½ hours. Drain. Remove the package. Untie the napkin. Turn the cabbage out onto a platter. Pass the Avgolemono Sauce.

THICK AVGOLEMONO SAUCE: In a saucepan, beat 3 egg yolks. Beat in 2 Tablespoons flour little by little. While stirring, drizzle in 2 cups of hot broth or cabbage cooking liquid. Cook and stir over low heat until sauce thickens, but do not let it boil. Remove from heat. Stir in the juice of ½ lemon.