Here’s a sentence that might come as a surprise: Cabbage is cool.
That taken-for-granted vegetable, that sturdy, dense staple of many a poor, ancestral homeland, is finally getting respect.
“It’s all about how it is prepared, how it’s elevated,” says Paul Kahan, a James Beard award-winning chef in Chicago and self-professed cabbage freak.
There are certain small skills that make life better and easier. I’m well aware that many of them take place outside of the kitchen, and I probably don’t know as many of those as I should. I’m of no use if you have a flat tire or need to calculate the circumference of something or want to find your way out of the woods.
Now that the viral craze surrounding the Instant Pot has quieted down a bit, let’s look at whether it really is an appliance you should add to your kitchen, or whether the classic slow cooker will do just fine.
INSTANT POTS
Every year, I host a Super Bowl viewing party, and though our numbers fluctuate, suffice it to say the crowd is always ready to eat, especially now that it includes a handful of teenage boys.
I pick a menu that allows for different appetites, the possibility of last-minute guests, and the welcome chance of leftovers for dinners later in the week.
So, what do you say, dressing or stuffing?
Most of the time, I end up putting my energy into the main course. You, too, right? The side dishes then have a tiered level of time and effort afforded to each of them, often ending with something exciting like “rice.”
But sometimes it just makes sense to flip that paradigm on its head, keep the main dish undemanding and uncomplicated, and show the side dishes some love.
A couple of years ago a neighbour of mine noticed that I called for gochujang, a Korean hot paste, in a recipe on my blog. She was excited that an ingredient she had grown up with was making its way into recipes in more mainstream American outlets, getting its deserved recognition in the spicy-ingredient pantheon.
There is no question that cauliflower has been having a long, popular moment. I was already a cauliflower fan, even a cauliflower lover, mostly favouring sliced and broken chunks of cauliflower tossed with a generous amount of olive oil, sprinkled with a liberal amount of salt, and roasted to a deep caramelized brown in a fairly high oven.
There is a salad on our table almost every single night. Usually it’s lettuce. More often than not, just a bowl of slivered romaine with a tart vinaigrette. Super simple.
With the arrival of fall, my produce thoughts start moving from things that grow above the ground to things that grow under it. Yes, my fellow seasonal cooks, root vegetable season is heading our way.
