The Monster Cabbage!

I like to get my weekly organic veg in a pre-ordered box - you decide the weight and they put in whatever is in season and deliver it to your home. It is like Christmas every week. I find that one gets so used to buying the same things in a supermarket, that a veggie box, with its sometimes surprising selection, makes you go beyond your comfort zone and try products you would normally never buy. This is how I discovered fennel.

Alas, my normal supplier has just recently retired (WHY? You look so hale and hearty Mr Manuel! What'll you do at home except get bored and bother your wife. C'monnnnn!) so I found myself looking for a new one. After a lot of searching, I found one. The website was easy to use and, the size of the boxes/price ratio good so, I hastened to order.

After a few days, it arrived. What was my shock when I found a MONSTER Savoy nestled cosily atop other veg and taking up HALF the space of the box next to an enormous Romaine - which is all show and no substance so not a problem. Unlike a Savoy which, if used instead of iron cannonballs, would probably breach a castle wall or two. 

I had ordered an 8 kilo box. Guess how much this monster weighed? A whopping 3,2 kilos! Now, who in their right mind lands such a ginormous brassica on an unwary customer? You could set up your own natural gas station with one of these babies and fuel a small state! 

Have ditched the seller in an email of stern tone but can't ditch the brassica so have been feverishly thinking of recipes and finally decided to alter the amazing Portuguese kale soup called 'Caldo Verde' ( recipe for which is herewith).

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small chunk of butter

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 a leek, finely chopped

1 stalk of celery, finely chopped

3 rashers of bacon/2 inch piece of chorizo, finely

chopped 

1/2 Savoy cabbage, shredded

1 ltr hot chicken stock

Garnish (optional):

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 an onion, finely sliced

1 rasher bacon

Method:

To make the soup, heat the olive oil and butter in a stock pot over a medium heat.

Add the garlic, leek and celery and fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the chopped bacon and brown

Add the cabbage and fry, stirring regularly, for 2-3 minutes, until soft.

Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Use a hand-blender to liquidise the soup and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To make the garnish, in a small frying pan, slowly cook the onion in olive oil till transparent. Add the bacon and cook on low heat till the bacon is brown and crunchy. Drain on a paper towel

To serve the soup, pour it into a warm bowl and add some garnish on top! Voilá

DEE-LIH-SHUS! The best bit is the crunchy bacon entangled with the caramelized onions, seetting off the slightly sweet flavour of the soup oh, so well.

Unfortunately, that was just a quarter of my monster and made enough soup for 4. It seems that the planet is going to heat up much faster in the next week or so, as I go through this veg. Flatulence won't be a by word but an 'in' and then, very soon, an 'out' word. Sigh! 

Cabbage soup

Luckily, cabbage, especially monster cabbage, has a long shelf life so, 10 days after reception, I decided to make the South Indian - Keralite - side dish called 'Thoran'. I got the recipe off here. Easy recipe and you end up with a moist and delicious dish which does NOT smell of old socks. 

Kerala cabbage 'thoran'