Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew | or what to do with half a head of cabbage

So, after I made the sweet potato and cabbage curry I was still left with a half a head of cabbage staring at me every time I opened the refrigerator. And really, it's not like we had had enough gas inducing meals for one week, why not just keep em' coming right? I turned to a vegan website that I frequent whenever I need to find delicious recipes that also happen to be weight watchers friendly, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen - I have loved everything that I have made from her collection. I think she may be putting together a cookbook soon, and if she is I'll be one of the first in line, as her recipes are always great. And if you just can't get enough technology, you can also become a fan of her on Facebook and get her recipe updates on your facebook news feed.

I haven't yet asked her if I can repost her recipe, so for now, if you want to make this recipe just follow this link for Vegan White Bean and Cabbage Stew. I did not modify this recipe one bit. I was a bit nervous to feed it to Chris for dinner, thinking it wouldn't be tasty or satisfying enough for him; man was I wrong, he went back for seconds and thirds. The next day he actually texted me with the following; "I can't wait to go home and eat that stew". There's a ringing endorsement if I've ever heard one. Funny he didn't text me to say, oh, I don't know, "I can't wait to go home and sex you up." Married five years and all we think about is our stomachs.

So, that's it for the cabbage recipes, but I must say, this little exercise has made me curious - if I went to the market tomorrow and bought two completely unrelated vegetables, how many google recipe possibilities would there be? I smell a challenge. What do you think, give me some combinations - don't cheat and do a Google search first - just think about the produce aisle and two things you might find that are completely unrelated and leave them to me in the comments and I'll see what fun I can have with them. Don't wait for someone else to comment either, just give em to me.

Rating = Damn Good

A Sweet Potato, A Cabbage, A Minor Nervous Breakdown | Spicy Sweet Potato and Cabbage Curry

So, the travel and conferences for March are over. The past three weeks have been a blur, I don't remember a lot of it, I just know I've been rushed, stressed and exhausted everyday. My face has started to twitch, you know, the annoying twitches around your eyes that make you feel like you've got a family of maggots living on your cheekbone just below the skin surface? 


When I pulled into the driveway late Friday afternoon, with all my trips and meetings behind me, I shut off the car and before getting out I cried, real quick - just to let some of the stress out. I really have no idea why, I'm not an emotional person, and I certainly am not the kind of woman who sits in her car alone and cries, but you know what, I did it, and it felt good. 


I managed to get to the market to buy some fruit and vegetables to have in the house, when I got home and emptied the bags I could not understand why I had decided to add a ginormous head of cabbage along with one sweet potato to my cart. So sitting in the kitchen, the abnormally large cabbage and sweet potato staring back at me from the counter, I started Googling. All the directive I gave the search engine was, "sweet potato "cabbage" "recipe" and up popped a number of options for me and my two rogue vegetables. I settled on on a recipe featured on a blog titled Insomniac Chef for two reasons, I had all the ingredients on hand, and it seems easy enough to plug into the Weight Watchers recipe builder and determine the points value for it. Here is a link to the original recipe on the Insomniac Chef blog, and below is my Weigh Watchers version of the recipe. 


Spicy Sweet Potato and Cabbage Curry | WW 3 pts
Makes 6 Servings


1 tsp canola oil
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tbsp ginger root minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup onion chopped
2 tsp curry powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 - 1.5 lbs sweet potatoe cubed
4 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 cup raisin
13 oz chick peas (canned)
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp peanuts
1/4 cup cilantro


Heat oil in a large wok or skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, curry powder, salt, and cayenne until the onion starts to brown -- about 5 minutes. Stir in cabbage, sweet potato, chickpeas, raisins, ginger and garlic. Saute 2 minutes more. 

Stir in the broth and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes (stirring occasionally). When the veggies are soft spoon the curry into bowls and garnish with the cashews and cilantro.


I was nervous about giving this to Chris for dinner, but he loved it. It is spicy, and we paired it with a Chris South African Chenin Blanc  - delicious. So, if you find yourself with a cabbage and a sweet potato, you know what to do.


Side note for anyone here in the northeast, have you ever planted sweet potatoes? I'm thinking of trying my hand at it this summer and could use some tips.


Rating = So Damn Good

Thank You Sir May I Have Another

Just because this is awesome news.

Women Who Drink Gain Less Weight

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/women-drinkers-gain-less-weight/

Thank you thank you thank you whoever funded this research! AM, bust open another bottle of 33!

I want to write you a letter

I want to write you a letter, and food posts and barrel fever posts and all that happy horse shit, but alas its March, one of the busiest times for my job and I find myself a little stretched thin, a little stressed and a little bit crazy. I love you guys, but the next few weeks are going to be tough for me to get anything up onto the blog, I'll do what I can. Expect a shit ton of stuff in April to win back your loyalty.

PS. Spring fever in is full effect. Vegetable garden planning has started.

Jules

Barrel Fever | Duckhorn Decoy Cabernet Savignon 2007

You know when you are driving and you have one of those trips where you consistently miss the green lights; like where if you had just a little more you would have made every light, and how unbelievably frustrating that is. That's how this wine was for me. I've literally been pining over Duckhorn since we went to Napa and didn't have time to visit this winery, or its sister winery Paraduxx. We have however had a Paraduxx wine and it was so delicious, and considering it's the step sister to Duckhorn, I assumed the Duckhorn would be heads above it.

It wasn't. I got no nose, all I smelled was hot, I drank it, expecting all the big cab flavors to roll over my tongue, firm tannins, lingering finish, all I got was alcohol burn. I decided it needed time to breathe; I gave it 24 hours. The next night I tried again, again it was too tight, too hot, just missing every green light, forcing me to sit and wait for something that never came.

In my wine journal I wrote my thoughts and pledged to try this wine again in a few years.
It was a gift, I didn't pay for it, I'm going to buy it again lay it down, give it more bottle time, and hopefully love it later.

Duckhorn Decoy, Cabernet Savignon, 2007
75% Cabernet 25%Merlot
Cost: $30
Rating = too tight, a bit too hot, needs time in the bottle, check back again in a few years.

Le Migliori Polpette di Tonno (The Best Tuna Meatballs) | Jamie Oliver

I put Jamie Oliver's ball in my mouth and they were de-lic-ious. All kidding aside, make this recipe. It was so so so good. I actually can't wait for the summer so that I can take just the tuna part of the recipe and make tuna burgers out of it, grill them, and serve it with a nice dry rose wine. I mean, I want summer to come for other reasons, including I'm sick of having a Raymaud's attack every day, I'm sick of getting up in the dark and leaving work in the dark, I'm sick of not having fresh veggies in the backyard, I'm sick sick sick sick sick of winter. Chris would tell me to shush because he's just not ready to be done skiing, but I'm ready, I'm more than ready, old man winter can blow me. 

Ok, back to the recipe; it's so good. The only thing I would say is that you have to double the sauce recipe. The sauce is great, use the good plum tomatoes, spend a little extra on the Italian kind, but make a double batch of the sauce otherwise the pasta is just a little dry.

I've never made a Jamie Oliver recipe before. This recipe is making me very curious about him and his other recipes. Do you have any Jamie Oliver recipes that you enjoy making?

Ingredients:

SAUCE

Olive Oil

1 small onion finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 tsp dried oregano

2 (14oz) can good quality plum tomatoes

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

red wine vinegar

small bunch flat leaf parsley finely chopped

TUNA BALLS

14 oz tuna steak

olive oil

2 oz pine nuts

1 tsp ground cinnamon

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

handful fresh flat leaf parsley chopped

1 3/4 c stale bread crumbs

2 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

zest and juice of 1 lemon

First make your sauce. Place a large pan on the heat, add a good glug of olive oil, your onion and garlic, and fry slowly for 10 or so minutes, until soft. Add your oregano, the tomatoes, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, then blend until smooth. Taste, it might need a tiny swig of red wine vinegar or some extra seasoning. 

While the tomatoes are simmering, chop the tuna up into 1-inch dice. Pour a good couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a large frying pan and place on the heat. Add the tuna to the pan with the pinenuts and cinnamon. Season lightly with salt and pepper and fry for a minute or so to cook the tuna on all sides and toast the pinenuts. Remove from the heat and put the mixture into a bowl. Allow to cool down for 5 minutes, then add the oregano, parsley, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, eggs, lemon zest, and juice to the bowl. Using your hands, really scrunch and mix the flavors into the tuna, then divide the mixture and squeeze it into meatballs slightly smaller than a golf ball. If you dip one of your hands in water while shaping, you’ll get a nice smooth surface on the meatball. If the mixture’s very sticky, add a few more breadcrumbs. Keep the meatballs around the same size and place them on an oiled tray, then put them in the fridge for an hour to let them rest.

Put the pan you fried the tuna in back on the heat with a little olive oil. Add your meatballs to the pan and jiggle them about until they’re golden brown all over. You might want to do them in batches- when they’re done, add them to the tomato sauce, divide between your plates, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and drizzle with good olive oil. Great served with spaghetti or linguine.

Rating = So Damn Good

Let me know if any of you end up making this.