The biggest cabbage in the world! & Cabbage & Chourizo Soup

On Sunday I went to our favorite local farm to get some goodies and came home with the biggest cabbage I’d ever seen. The nice man at the farm stand saw me ogling it in the field and offered Dave a knife to go cut it down and take it home. (I would never offer Dave a knife. I know what happens. I’ve seen it. I’ve been to the emergency room with him).

When I got home I tried to take a picture of the cabbage next to the dog, next to a six-pack of beer etc. to show just how enormous it was, but they are all very blurry – I apologize.

After taking the pictures for this blog post  - because how could I not write about a cabbage that big – I realized just how big the cabbage was and I seriously started to worry about what I was going to do with all that cabbage. I thought I’d do a take on Portuguese Kale Soup. This is my version of it with Cabbage.

Cabbage & Chourizo Soup

Half a gianormous head of cabbage – - or something more reasonable – shredded.

5 or 6 carrots – chopped

onion – chopped

celery – chopped

4 pieces of chourizo, skin taken off, sliced into little bite-sized discs

Chicken or Vegetable Stock

Water

S&P

Brown the chourizo in a big pot. Add onions, carrots, celery – sweat them out a bit. Add cabbage to pot. Some S&P to taste. Add Stock and water 1:1 to almost cover the cabbage. Simmer until the cabbage wilts down. Serve with a nice crusty bread for dunking.

trying this again + cole slaw

I love writing and I love love food; I’ve tried this once before and got distracted – mostly by going back to work after my daughter was born. So Food Porn is back – - I aim to talk about food, cooking, recipes and the occasional strong opinion on something else entirely.

Today? Cole Slaw. I made a panko-crusted haddock dish, roasted tomatoes with garlic and oregano (from my garden) and an easy, fabulous cole slaw I thought I’d share the recipe for.

For you cole slaw haters out there – just give this one a chance – unless you are allergic to cabbage or something awful like that.

Also, for those of you who don’t know me, I don’t really measure so ingredient amounts are approximate and if you are trying this recipe at home are subject to common sense.

Fabulous Mayo-Free Summer Cole Slaw

Cabbage, shredded or chopped coarsely, however you like it – I used 2 small heads, one savoy and one purple.

Carrots –  3 or 4, again shredded or chopped, however lazy you are.

scapes – 1 beautiful curlicue ; if you don’t know scapes – please go to you local farmer’s market and get some asap – fore you cannot. If you don’t have scapes I supp you could use chives  or scallions – but they are just not the same.

1 tsp or tbsp of sugar – I use sugar in the raw, you can use whatever you have on hand

Vinegar – your favorite vinegar will do. I chose champagne vinegar for this because it’s a little sweeter.

Oil – I like a light oil like grapeseed,  but whatever you have on hand will be fine. Bacon grease would work if you are hard-core.

S&P

Mix the shredded or chopped veg in a big bowl. Dissolve sugar with a few good tbsps of vinegar, some S & P. Wisk in a few glugs of oil until it emulsifies. Pour dressing over veg. Mix together. Lett hang for a bit. Eat.

This one tastes even better the next day –  so make extra.