I really did try to make a dent in that monster of a Chinese cabbage I picked earlier today. I swear I did. I figured I'm make a Chinese cabbage salad. I think that was my flaw. Salads don't boil the cabbage down to nothing like soups do. Salads make your stomach think it is full when not much of substance has gone in. Good for me. Bad for making a dent in the greens.
So I chopped up some onion, a little sweet red pepper, some cilantro (from the gardens), a big radish (again from the garden), and an apple. I poured over the top a nice dressing made from concentrated apple juice, rice vinegar, oil, and salt and pepper. Oh and soy sauce. Mustn't forget the soy sauce on a Chinese cabbage salad. Then I used enough Cabbage stems to double the volume. I only used four stems. And not the whole leaf or anything, but stems chopped in less than half since they wouldn't fit in the fridge any other way. Only four of the bottom parts. So less than two leaves. Sigh.
At least I ate it all. Two bowls full. It was very yummy. But the cabbage is taunting me from the fridge. I think it is winning. So I'm going to ignore it and eat broccoli for dinner.
Boy that salad looks good Daphne! How much did that cabbage weigh?
ReplyDeleteI don't know what is going on with these Asian veggies. My pak choi was very small and bolted in the cool rainy weather. Now my baby choi plants are huge and just loving it!
I've decided that I'm going to have to freeze some since there are 14 plants out there.
I never thought about using apple juice in salad dressing. That salad looks and sounds good!
ReplyDeleteOur Asian greens have been prolific this year with all our rain. It's been hard to eat them all even with cooking them. I don't usually grow the heading Chinese cabbages because, like you, it is so hard to eat them all when raw. I do have Fun Jen and Tokyo Bekana growing, both of which I usually don't cook.
Daphne, if you saw my feeble attempt at vegetable gardening, you'd appreciate the Green Monster more (yeah.... I'm a BoSox fan... can't help it). Are you getting your thunderstorms? They're crazy here and when it started, I thought of you. Have some broccoli for me, too. I'm still in Chive Mode.
ReplyDeleteRobin, just over five pounds all trimmed up. I have some new little baby bok choys planted that are doing well too, but the older ones all bolted. Well except for the Yakatta-na which can take a lot of heat and time before bolting.
ReplyDeletevillager, I've used apple and orange on occasion. I've yet to try grape or lemonade. For me it is a good way to add sweetness without dumping too much refined sugar on top. I have a huge sweet tooth.
Wendy, lol I didn't even think of the Green Monster. Yes we got some bad thunderstorms, but really not as bad as much of the state. The major storms are going to the north or south of us. Our areas wasn't really threatened by the tornadoes that hit the western part of Massachusetts. I didn't even get the rain I was hoping for. Ah well. Better to have no rain and no tornadoes than to have rain and tornadoes.
That salad looks delish, I will have to try and replicate it with some napa cabbage from the farmer's market.
ReplyDeleteI like the apple juice idea, I might need to try that.
Yum~~the salad looks good, sorry about the green monster, if everything else fail try making it into kraut (5 lb veg to 3 tbsp salt) or kimchi, that would bring the 5 lb down to about 1 qt size bottle after salting and packing it in tightly.
ReplyDeleteOh gees! That think is HUGE! I still have some seeds that Mac gave me last year. Maybe I'll grow some this fall.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm going to have to develop a taste for cabbage because broccoli just isn't growing this year. It's a shame too because I recently had store bought broccoli and came away pining for my garden grown. /sigh
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious. Too much of anything can be overwhelming but enjoy what you can.
ReplyDeleteI have one big head of chinese cabbage that I am going to have to harvest fairly soon. It is a beauty though and relatively untouched by slugs etc. (unlike the other planting in another area of younger chinese cabbages - they are getting quite "lacey" on the exterior leaves). I think I will use it (at least in part) for a nice salad following your lead with the apple and sweet/tart dressing.
ReplyDeleteAli, it is really quite good. I love apple and cabbage together.
ReplyDeleteMac, Ack I hate kraut. My parents used to make it when I was growing up. I can't stand it. And it really isn't the taste, but the smell.
Thomas, that is where I got my seeds too. Give it a shot if you want a monster of a cabbage.
Sinfonian, I've yet to have much garden grown broccoli. Until this year I just wasn't successful at it. This year though it is doing well. I think it hated my heavy clay soil from the old house.
johanna, I am enjoying it.
Laura, One year I got slugs inside the head of cabbage. Yuck. That was the year I broke down and started using Sluggo. Handpicking just wasn't enough when it rained all spring and summer.
Oh my! I completely misjudged the size of Michihili. I planted four very close together. They began bolting last week and didn't have a chance to grow to full size. I chopped up what I could and added it to salads. It looks like just one will feed an army.
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