The Second Sexiest Vegetable

It's raining again. And as long as we ignore the Instagram posts of snow and single-digit thermometer readings from the midwest, we Southern Californians can lament our long, cold winter. So crank up the oven: it's time for winter-veggie comfort food, starting with cabbage! 

Admittedly, cabbage has a PR problem. Unlike her popular cousins kale and Brussels sprouts, cabbage is associated with an older crowd and — tragically — the word boiled. In fact, cabbage’s image has fallen to such depths, she’s now eligible to be considered ironic. Herein lies her comeback. Like the beets of yore, cabbage is waiting to be rediscovered. She’s also beautiful, delicious, and super great for you.

Buttery when roasted, crisp when pickled, and far more forgiving than Brussels sprouts, cabbage would be worthy of your attention even if she wasn’t a nutrition powerhouse. But she is. Here’s a nutrition rundown:

Cabbage has:

• Cancer fighting glucosinolates

• Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties

• An insanely low caloric load

• Vitamins C, E, K, A, fiber, folate, iron and magnesium 

Let the cabbage-craze commence! These quick and delicious steaks are a mouth-watering place to start.

---

Cabbage Steaks Recipe

 Makes 4 steaks

Ingredients:

1 Medium Cabbage

Grass-fed butter (I like Straus because it's made in the European style with a higher butterfat content)

Sprig of thyme

 Salt and pepper

Instructions:

Pre heat oven to 400F

Slice your cabbage into 1/2” steaks

Lightly butter a casserole dish and place it in the warming oven

Melt 2 Tbs of butter in a cast iron pan over medium heat.

Place a single cabbage steak in your pan. Rub it around until it's generously coated with butter, let cook one minute, then flip and repeat on the other side. Transfer steak to your pre-warmed casserole dish (out of the oven). Repeat with the rest of your cabbage, adding butter often, and adjusting the temp so your butter doesn’t burn. When your casserole is lined with a single layer of cabbage steaks, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drop a couple sprigs of thyme on top, and stick it in the oven. Roast in oven for 15 minutes, then flip steaks and roast for another 5-10 minutes or until the steak is browned on both sides and the cabbage has the consistency of melted heaven.

Now taste.

I know what you're thinking. You've fallen head over heels in love with cabbage, and now you're afraid the weather is going to warm up and leave you longing.  Here’s a secret: it’s good raw too. This sophisticated coleslaw recipe will carry you into spring. In addition to being sexy, cabbage is versatile.

Aubrey Yarbrough is the Community Development Manager for Farmer Mark. Before moving to LA she ran her own organic farm and cooked on the garde manger station of the award winning Elements restaurant in Princeton, NJ. She has contributed poetry to New American Writing and prose to Edible Jersey.

Portuguese Bread Soup

Few dishes are simultaneously comforting and fancy, nutritious and easy to make. Portuguese Bread Soup hits all the marks. Sure the recipe starts by frying sourdough bread in olive oil—but the rest of it is greens, beans and garlic, and a poached egg.

It is quite filling, and works best as a simple, stand-alone meal. I like to serve it on those rare occasions when friends come over for lunch. It is my go-to dinner for overnight guests arriving late.

I adapted this soup from a recipe found in Taste Magazine. The text below is pulled from Taste almost verbatim, with a few minor edits.

Ingredients

2 C country-style sourdough bread, torn into irregular, 1 inch cubes

3/4 C extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch Swiss Chard (leaves & stems separated, leaves torn, stems chopped)

1/2 white onion, diced

1 bunch cilantro

1 clove garlic

4 C chicken stock (can substitute veg stock)

1 C dried white beans (can substitute canned)

4 free-range eggs

salt & pepper

Instructions

1

If using dried beans: soak beans a minimum of four hours or overnight. Slow boil in stock or water until beans are tender.

2

Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add the bread and cook, stirring often, taking care not to burn. When bread begins to brown, about 5 minutes, remove from skillet and wipe skillet clean.

3

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and warm over medium heat. Add the chard stems and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add chard leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, until both the leaves and stems are tender, another few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4

Add the cilantro, garlic and 1/2 cup olive oil, and 1/2 cup of chicken stock to a blender. Puree until smooth and season with salt.

5

Add the stock to a pot over medium heat, along with the chard and drained beans. Meanwhile, bring a shallow pot of water to a boil then reduce to the lowest temperature possible. While using a spoon to create a gentle whirlpool, crack each of the eggs into the water, one at a time. Cook until the whites are set and the yolks are still jiggly, 4 minutes.

6

Add the cilantro puree to the stock, chard and beans and stir. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Divide the bread between four bowls, and do the same with the soup base itself. Top each bowl with a poached egg and serve.

Christmas in a Jar

Arnett's Winter Plum Jam is Christmas in a jar. It's sweet, it’s spiced, and it deserves a spot on your holiday table. What better place than inside a Christmas cookie?

We took a traditional linzer cookie and added plum jam for a very merry treat! The dough of linzer cookies isn't too sweet, so the jam takes center stage!

Whats more, these fancy little cookies are quite easy to make.

This recipe is modified from NYTimes Cooking

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup raw, skin-on almonds (or 3/4 cup almond flour)

• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 ½ cups unsalted butter (3 sticks)

• 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup Winter Plum jam

• Powdered sugar, for dusting

PREPARATION

1. Pulse together flour and almonds in a food processor until the almonds are very finely ground. Add cinnamon, baking powder and salt, and pulse to blend. (Alternatively, whisk together flour, ground almonds or almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.)

2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium-high until the mixture is light, fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and beat until everything is well combined, again stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary.

3. Add in dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed, just until incorporated.

4. Divide dough in 2 equal pieces, and wrap each piece in cling film, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk. Chill at least 2 hours, up to 5 days ahead.

5. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper so it's about 1/8 inch thick. (Because of the almonds, the dough may crack in places while you’re rolling it out. This is O.K., just patch it up with scraps.)

6. Using a round cookie cutter 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out as many circles as possible. Take half of these circles and cut out a 1-inch circle from the interior of the larger circles, creating a doughnut shape that will become the top of the cookie. If at any point the dough becomes too soft to cut and cleanly remove from parchment paper, slide it onto a cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator. Gather any scraps of dough, combine them and roll them out, chilling as necessary. Transfer dough circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced 1 inch apart and bake until the edges are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

7. To assemble the linzer cookies, spread about a teaspoon of Winter Plum jam onto the flat sides of the larger circles. Dust the tops of the cutout circles with powdered sugar and place on top of Winter Plum jam