Saturday 10 September 2011

A bargain but what shall I do with it

Hows this for restraint. Last night I called in at Tesco, not my local one, but on the way home as I was passing. My aim was to see what had been reduced.

I came away with these three items for the grand total of 80p, and not a penny more found it's way out of my purse. I wasn't tempted by a bar of chocolate, or a packet of crisps, or any other frivolous items that were screaming out to, 'get me, you know you want to.' I turned a blind eye, and I'm proud of myself. Are you able to say 'no', when temptation comes a knockin?

I've added some of the green cabbage to my pan of steamed veg for dinner. It is supposed to be good for you, I don't normally get it but I thought I would give it a try. I am struggling to eat it because it is quite tough. Can anyone tell me how I am supposed to cook it? I washed it and tore it up into bite size pieces, but it is horrible to chew. Should I shred it, or boil it, or should I make soup with it? Help :o(

19 comments:

  1. I would take away the tough centre stem, then chop it. Don't use all those outer leaves, unless you use them to wrap something in to cook. Chop it quite finely and either cook in a small amount of water or steam it. When it's cooked, chop it again (I use one of those curly chip cutters) put some butter. Personally I think spring cabbage is nicer.

    I've got to look properly at your last post, not had time yet but just saw this one.

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  2. I take the central stem out, roll it, slice it across thinly and then steam it......

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  3. I remove the tough outer cores, shred it finely and then sweat down, while it's wet from rinsing, with a little butter in a lidded pan then mix in with mashed potatoes.

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  4. What does sweat down mean? Is that like frying it?

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  5. When I stir fry cabbage, I separate the green from the tougher white bit, shred both, add the white early on with carrot slices, let that cook enough, then add the green right at the end. (I think I might be giving you the impression I live on stir fries; not true, honest!)

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  6. Not really frying because the lid is kept on the pan keeping the steam in to save it drying out/burning - the butter just adds flavour really. If it's wet from the rinsing, add a knob of butter (or do without if you choose) and keep it on a low heat until it's cooked (it will shrink right down) and the butter will give it a nice flavour. Sorry I can't give a time ...... I just keep it on whilst cooking the other stuff and turn it off it's ready before everything else lol!

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  7. I'd make a veggie soup with the cabbage added. I'm not a huge cabbage fan but it is good in soups. Sure wish they marked things down like that here in the US.

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  8. I can give you advice on cabbage. I do love it raw...just eat a bite out of a leaf or a few shreds. I have several ways of cooking cabbage.

    --you can actually cut the head in fourths, cut out the center stem part.I eat one of these four pieces as a vegetable. a) steam on stove or in microwave and then add a bit of butter, usually a Tbsp pat is enough.

    If you are only using part of the cabbage, don't cut the hard, solid stem out until you are ready to use that part.

    --backing up, you only take off the first two or three outer leaves, depending on how many were removed before you bought it. The one you bought needs at least four leaves removed.

    --take one of the quarters and lay it on one of the flat sides. This is faster than rolling the leaves. Cut it in little shreds crosswise of the quarter.

    --put shreds in soup toward the end of cooking.
    use the shreds for cole slaw. To me it is a delicious
    and nutritious extender. If I have it when I make soup,
    I will always use the it.

    --put the quarter in a double boiler with no water except what remains after rinsing.

    --to stir fry, use the shreds.

    --Use a grater (maybe you don't call it that, but it has holes where you can run cheese and other things across it to make it into tiny pieces.) When you grate it, you can then make better slaw, in my opinion. Plus, you can get your nutrition from the cabbage without have large pieces in your soup, if that is your preference.

    There are recipes for stuffed cabbage. You make a sort of meat loaf and wrap it in cabbage leaves. I have never made cabbage this way, but it sounds really delicious.

    My ex refused to eat cabbage but would relent if there were enough onions in the pot. Try onions, a teeny bit of salt...like one shake...and butter with your cabbage.

    For those with a pressure cooker, for one person, use 1/4 or 1/8 of a head of cabbage, one potato, carrots,red sweet pepper if you like those. I don't.

    For seasonings (no salt, shake of pepper if you like pepper, a bit of bell pepper, bit of celery, bit of oinion). Pressure all for ten minutes. You be the judge of how much carrot, cabbage, and potato and pepper. Actually, you can add anything you want.

    By the way, celery adds sodium. I only use a three inch piece of one stem just for taste.
    Now, I want cabbage and the farmer's market is closed. Poo.

    If I cook/steam cabbage, I want some blackeyed peas and sweet potatoes with meat loaf. Now, I am really starving.

    You are talking to a cabbage lover.

    Give it a chance. Cut the whole quarter thinly with a knife and I think it will be more palatable. The nutrition in cabbage is remarkable. Try some of this and report back. Some cabbage is not as tender as other cabbage.

    My mother cooked cabbage in tomato V8 (tomato juice with other vegetable juices) with onions. That makes me gag.

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  9. I slice the cabbage thinly, stir fry in butter/marg until little bits catch brown, add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, cover and cook until tender. A treat is to butter a casserole dish, add thinly sliced cabbage, add salt and pepper, half fill the casserole with beer, and cook in oven until tender.
    Jane x

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  10. I am not a cabbage lover myself but I do like it a lot when sliced (into about 4-5 inch lengths) and fried with some onions with salt and pepper added to taste. I also like cabbage as an extra ingredient in soups. I also like cabbage in sauerkraut but I don't make that myself, I buy it ;-)

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  11. no top tips on cabbage cooking, i only ever chop it up and use it in soups, don't like it any other way. However I called at local co-op as i was passing last night and too only came away with reduced stuff. large crusty bread loaf reduced to 20p from 1.40, bag of pears reduced from 2.10 to 25p (these will last ages as they are rock hard) and 2 x 2 litres of skimmed milk reduced to 25p each from 1.60. (i freeze the milk in 1 pint cartons and then defrost when needed). so 90p spent. i love seeing your bargains so thought i'd share mine.

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  12. Thank you for sharing your bargains Anon, isn't it great to save loads of money on food shopping.

    Thanks for all these cabbage ideas, I'm going to have a go at one or two of them. I think I made the mistake of starting with the outer leaves when I should have been discarding them. I chewed and chewed and couldn't even get the pulpy mess down my throat. Chopping more finely and cooking for longer might be the answer.

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  13. Hi Ilona, I've been following your blog since you appeared on Superscrimpers and this is my first comment! :) I didn't see a picture of cabbage in your lot, do you mean the spring greens? I normally boil it for a few minutes and then stir fry it with chopped garlic and salt for a little bit.

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  14. Thank you Milo, it is spring greens, sorry, I thought anything green with leaves is a cabbage, ha ha. I like the idea of chopped garlic, I will try that.

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  15. looks like everyone has given you some good ideas. I myself vote for slow cooking in a veggie soup with a tad of sugar. mnn, I LOVE soup!

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  16. I always thought I disliked cabbage til I married a Serb. He makes delicious salad with it.
    Simply slice the cabbage into quarters for easy slicing with a large knife so it is easier. I do one quarter at a time store the rest for later. Slice thin shreds through the many layers till it looks like piles of thin shredded paper. Dis-guard or eat the core. Place it in a bowl that has a lid. Add a few dashes of veggie oil and vinegar and toss with salt to taste. Best eaten after soaking in the bowl after a few hours. Needs refrigeration. lasts for days. Yummy!

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  17. I hate cabbage with a passion you can only imagine! However I do grow them for my chickens and occasionaly I cook one for my beloved. I just wash it, cut out the centre stems from each leaf, shred it finely and boil it in a little water. He seems to like it. But then he eats spinach which I treat in the same way but shred less. Ugh.
    Sairy

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  18. There are some recipes here for cabbage, Ilona. The vegetarian and Kim Chee options sound like what you are looking for. http://www.cheriestihler.com/CC/recipes.html

    Christy

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  19. cut it into quarters and drizzle with olive oil then bake in the oven with jacket potatoes for 20 to 30 mins. yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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