A simple and healthy side dish for spring from BBC GoodFood.
Serves 8
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Ingredients
600g shredded spring greens, thick stalks removed
OR 400g spring greens and 250g broccoli, thicker stalks halved
For the dressing
2 garlic cloves, crushed
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
Method
Make the dressing first. Mix together the garlic, lemon juice and zest, olive oil and some seasoning. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then add the broccoli and/or greens, and cook for about 5 mins until tender. Drain well, then toss through the dressing and serve.
Tasty and quick – a recipe (and photo) from Waitrose ‘Winter – Harvest 2013’ magazine.
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 large floury potato
25g butter
1 large onion, chopped
200g smoked bacon, chopped
1 savoy cabbage, shredded
juice of 1 lemon
pinch ground nutmeg
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
Method
Cook the potato in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, drain and set aside. Meanwhile melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion and bacon for 3-4 minutes.
Place the cabbage, lemon juice and nutmeg in a large pan and add the stock. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the drained potato, then the onion and bacon mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes. Season to taste and serve.
A pasta recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Return of the Naked Chef to make good use of the cabbage and garlic from this week’s veg boxes.
Serves 4
Preparation/Cooking: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
10 rashers of pancetta or dry-cured streaky bacon, thinly sliced
olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 good handful of thyme, leaves picked
1 large Savoy cabbage (outer leaves removed) quartered, cored and finely sliced
1 handful of grated Parmesan cheese
455g dried farfalle, the best you can get
salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
200g buffalo mozzarella, cut into 1cm dice
2 handfuls of pine nuts, lighly toasted
Method
In a pan fry your pancetta in a little olive oil until lightly golden. Add the garlic and thyme and soften. Add the Savoy cabbage and Parmesan, then stir and put the lid on the pan. Cook for a further 5 minutes, shaking every now and again, while you cook your farfalle in salted boiling water until al dente. When the cabbage is nice and tender, season and loosen with some nice peppery extra virgin olive oil. Toss the drained farfalle into the cabbage and at the last minute mix in the mozzarella and pine nuts. Serve immediately.
A good way to use this week’s spring onions and some spring greens – from Nigel Slater’s Tender (Vol. 1). As he says, ‘Of all the flavours that seem to bring out the best of the cabbage family’s earthy greenness, few work as effectively as those of Southeast Asia. Ginger, spring onion and garlic have a natural affinity with chlorophyll-rich vegetables of any sort …’
Serves 2 as a side dish
Preparation and cooking: about 15 minutes
Ingredients
about 12 stems or small leaves of chinese greens or small cabbage leaves
2 large cloves garlic
thumb-sized piece of ginger
6 spring onions (though maybe a few more of our CSA baby ones)
2 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
Method
Put a saucepan of deep water on to boil and salt it slightly. Wash the greens thoroughly. Peel the garlic and ginger, finely chop the garlic and shred the ginger into matchstick strips. Trim the spring onions and cut each into two or three.
Warm the oil in a shallow pan or wok. Toss the garlic, ginger and spring onions in the oil till deep gold, verging on being lightly browned and fragrant. Drop the greens, whole or shredded as you wish into the boiling water. Leave for only a minute or so before draining. Pour the fish sauce in with the garlic and ginger – it will spit and sizzle – then toss with the greens and eat.
From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. Based on a recipe by Irish chef Denis Cotter, she says it ‘has lots of different flavours, with a lovely after-bite.’
Serves 6
Preparation and cooking: 20 minutes
Ingredients
450g onions
½ savoy cabbage (about 400g)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red or 4 green chillies, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
about 5cm fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
800ml good vegetable stock
400ml tin of coconut milk
bunch of fresh coriander, chopped (optional)
juice of 3 limes
salt and black pepper
Method
Finely chop the onions and very finely shred the cabbage. Heat the oil in a pan, add the cabbage and onion and cook over a moderate heat for a couple of minutes before adding the chillies, garlic, ginger and coriander seeds. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until the onion and cabbage are tender but still have a bite to them.
Bring the stock to the boil in a separate pan and add it to the vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the coconut milk, half of the fresh coriander (if using), the lime juice and finally salt and pepper.
Serve the soup with extra coriander to taste.
NOTE: chopped parsley could be substituted for the coriander.
A recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new River Cottage Everyday cookbook. ‘Soft, buttery, wilted leeks bring a lovely sweetness to any kind of lightly cooked cabbage or greens,’ he says. ‘Easy to throw together, can be made with different seasonal green throughout most of the year and works as a side dish to everything …’ It’s just got to be worth trying.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking about 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
about 500g leeks
a knob of unsalted butter
1 savoy or other green cabbage, 2 heads of spring greens, or a few bunches of curly kale
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Trim the leeks, slice them finely (maximum 5mm) and give them a good rinse to get rid of any grit. Heat the butter in a large frying pan or wide saucepan and add the leeks with a pinch of salt. Let them cook gently for 5-6 minutes, stirring or shaking the pan occasionally, until wilted and tender.
Meanwhile, grim and coarsely shred the cabbage, greens or kale. Cook lightly – in either a steamer or a large saucepan of salted water – for 3-4 minutes, until wilted and tender but not too soft. Remove from the heat immediately, drain well and let the excess moisture steam off for a minute or so. Then add to the pan of buttery leeks, along with some more seasoning, and stir over a low heat for about a minutes until thoroughly combined. Serve straight away.
In theory you can use any leftovers for bubble and squeak … but in practice there rarely are any.
Largely from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook but with a few tweaks from Camel CSA member Henrietta Danvers. It’s great with cold meats, smoked fish, cheeses, almost anything. You need to make it at least the day before you need it so that the flavours of the spices really come through. It will keep in a screw-topped jar in the fridge for two to three weeks.
Serves 6-8
Preparation: 15 minutes plus at least 24 hours in fridge
Ingredients
½ white cabbage
100ml cider vinegar
100g soft brown sugar
large bunch of dill/parsley/mint/coriander
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tsp dill or fennel or caraway seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds
salt and black pepper
Method
Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove the hard core, then slice very thinly. Don’t use the stem.
Heat the vinegar in a small pan over a low heat and then stir in the sugar until it has dissolved. Leave to cool.
Finely chop the herbs. Mix the oil, garlic, seeds, salt and pepper. Add both herbs and oil mix to the sweet vinegar. Dress the cabbage with this marinade. Put in a jar or container and leave for at least 24 hours in the fridge.
“A wonderfully healthy and delicious lunch. Have the cabbage on its own, or on top of a bowl of rice,” says Sarah Raven in whose Garden Cookbook this recipe appears.
Serves 4-6
Preparation time 5 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 small savoy cabbage
1 tbsp dry-fried sesame seeds (you can mix in sunflower seeds too)
1 tbsp juniper berries, crushed
2 garlic cloves, chopped
sea salt
2 tbsp ground nut oil
1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced (green would do but red better for colour)
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh root ginger
1 tbsp runny honey
splash of Japanese soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper
bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped (optional)
Method
Cut the cabbage into four and discard the hard white centre and leaf midribs before shredding finely. Dry-fry the sesame seeds on a gentle heat until they’re golden brown. This will take about 5 minutes, but don’t let them burn. Then put them to one side. Crush the juniper berries and garlic with the sea salt, using a pestle and mortar.
Heat a tablespoon of the groundnut oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the chilli and cook for 1 minute on medium heat. Scoop the chilli out of the oil, leaving the spicy oil in the pan and add the sesame seeds. Add the rest of the groundnut oil and the sesame oil to the same pan and then the cabbage, salt, juniper berries and garlic. Turn up the heat. Stir every minute or so for 5 minutes and then add all the other ingredients except the coriander. Stir for another couple of minutes and remove from the heat. The cabbage should still be crunchy. This tastes lovely with coriander leaves – add some chopped over the top.
