The middle of fall in Ontario’s Greenbelt means that slowly cooking food is back on the menu. Between beets, squash and cabbage, there are many options that produce a deliciously sweet dish once slowly cooked.
To enjoy all that fall have to offer, it’s time to turn our attention to cabbage. Similar to beets, cabbage is one of the vegetables that I love eating raw, cooked, or pickled. Whether eaten raw (just shredded with salt) or cooked, cabbage is a really simple side dish to add to the usual meals that you cook on a daily basis.
I love to make this recipe because it takes very little work and few ingrediants, but the result is a slightly sweet cabbage with a hint of thyme. It’s just perfect as part of the main meal or for lunch at work. You can make this dish on Sunday and store in containers to add as a side to your usual meals. Just re-heat the cabbage in the microwave!
Cooked Shredded Cabbage
Makes about 8 portions, takes 2 hours
1 Cabbage
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Bunch Thyme
Salt and Pepper
Remove the outer layer of your cabbage and quickly rinse the cabbage. Shredding the cabbage is not an easy task, the cabbage is thick and tough. Remove the core of the cabbage by making incisions starting from bottom of the cabbage at the core - this step makes the shredding much easier. You want the incisions to form a pyramid inside the cabbage since the core is thicker at the bottom and becomes thinner towards the middle. Once you have removed the core, cut the cabbage into four pieces - don’t worry if this is not possible just try to cut the cabbage into smaller pieces that you can easy manage.
Begin to cut the four pieces into small strips, you want to give the cabbage a shredded texture. Take a handful of your cabbage and place it in a dutch oven and sprinkle some salt, pepper and oil. Continue adding the remaining cabbage in small batches - don’t forget about the salt and pepper! This ensures that the salt, pepper and oil end up evenly on all the cabbage pieces. Add the thyme springs on top of the cabbage and turn the heat to low.
Stir the cabbage every 15 minutes, this ensures that the cabbage cooks evenly and does not burn on the bottom. The cabbage has cooked once it has reduced in size and the colour has taken on brown/red aspects - this should take about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Click here to find the closest farm that sells cabbage.
– Andreea Nicoara
