A take on braised cabbage

I am in the midst of exams here at law school, so for the past two weeks, I haven't made anything very inventive. At the farmer's market one day, I bought a head of cabbage, because I felt like I needed a vegetable, and I'm Polish, German and Irish - all good cabbage-loving people. I looked at some recipes on the internet for braised cabbage, and decided to try to do a variation of them for the slow cooker, so I could leave it while I went to school to study. I must say, it turned out pretty well. I've been eating it with pearl barley. I also think it would be good alongside mashed potatoes or boiled fingerlings, and would be a great accompaniment to pork or sausage.

(all measurements are approximate, since I kind of made it up)

1 head cabbage (I used green, but I think red would be even better), cored and chopped
Carrot (probably the equivalent of 3), cut in coins
1 onion, sliced (I used some white and some red, since that's what I had)
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
3 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1/2-1 c of water (you could probably also use stock if you want)
1 TBSP butter, cut into pats
A pour or two of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the prepared vegetables in the crock pot and mix up as best you can. (I had a really big head of cabbage, so it was hard to mix much.) Pour in the vinegar and water, and place the pats of butter on top. Pour a bit of olive oil over it, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set the cooker on low and go about your business.

Results: Mine was super tender and browned. Also, don't be alarmed if the pot is really full, because it will all cook down. I probably left it a bit too long - 10 hours or so - because I'm busy, but it still tasted good. I bet 5-6 hours would be sufficient, but since you're going for soft anyway, it doesn't really matter how long you leave it. Warning: this will make your house smell like cabbage!

We got another couple of inches of snow today. Harper and I went out for a longer sort of walk; I finally got her a dog coat (she looks REALLY cute in it) that she tolerates, so we were able to do more than just zip around the block. I still let her lead the way, so when she gets cold she just turns toward home.

The snow that had fallen today was still covering many of the Christmas lights around the neighborhood, both the low bushes and on the eaves of houses. It's a really beautiful thing to see the lights glowing under a layer of snow. Very peaceful and magical. I don't think I've ever seen that before to this extent, either due to lack of snow around Christmas or lack of Christmas lights. It made me feel grateful, yet again, to be living in such a wonderful place. I would have taken a picture, but there's no way a photo could have done it justice.

It also reminded me of one of my favorite evenings in Japan. My friends and I had gone snowboarding in the mountains. The snowboarding itself was very memorable; the mountains overlooked a huge alpine lake, so as you're starting down the slopes you look out on this blue lake not too far in the distance. Anyway, that evening we decided to go to an onsen in the middle of the mountains. To get there, after winding through mountain passes, you have to park your car along the road. Then you walk about a mile along a ravine with a river, and then over a bridge. Finally you get to a tunnel of snow, except without a roof. It snows so much in the mountains that to get to the onsen the owners have to keep digging this tunnel, and by that time the walls were well over eight feet tall. They had lined the walls with Christmas lights (the Brits called them fairy lights, which seemed especially appropriate), and for the rest of the walk to the onsen, the only lights are these Christmas lights. The onsen itself was wonderful, it was an outdoor one, so you basically have to disrobe in a changing room (the changing rooms and the pools are separated by gender), then scurry through the snow and ice to hop in the steaming water before you freeze. If you get too hot, you can just reach out to the side of the pool and scoop up some snow to plop on your head. That was a good night.

Winter Solstice Thoughts

I have always thought of winter solstice as a depressing astrological event. I mean, it's surrounded left and right by the darkest and coldest months of the year. It seems cruel to even mark it on the calendar, like saying, "ha ha, you think it's dark and cold now, just WAIT until Dec 21." And, it's not even like winter is over then, oh no. We still have January and February (and, now that I'm in WI, March and April) to get through.

But now, I'm starting to get the reasoning if the ancients, precisely because this is the farthest north I've ever lived and the days are shorter here than in Bloomington (about 40 minutes shorter this time of year). I totally get why people celebrated this as a time of renewal (we made it through the darkest time of year and it'll only get better!), and why Christmas was designed to coincide with and replace solstice. It's also given me new insight into Christmas lights. The sun's already set by the time I get out of work and I have to walk Harper in the dark, but with the amazing Grizwold-y displays in my neighborhood, it may as well be daytime. The lights are our way of filling in for the sun until it comes back.

Swiss Chard Gratin

From the Gourmet cookbook.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs
• 3 oz Tomme de Savoie or Gruyère cheese, grated (1 cup)
• 1 garlic clove, halved lengthwise, germ removed if green, and garlic finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped mixed fresh herbs (preferably chives, tarragon, and flat-leaf parsley)
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 lb Swiss chard, leaves and stems separated and both cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 lb spinach, coarse stems discarded, leaves coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Toss melted butter with bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, herbs, half of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.
2. Boil broth in a small saucepan until reduced by half. Add cream and keep warm.
3. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, whisking, 1 minute, then whisk in broth mixture and boil, whisking, 1 minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F.
5. Cook onion in remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a wide 8-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add chard stems, remaining nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned, about 8 minutes.
6. Increase heat to moderately high and add chard leaves and spinach by large handfuls, stirring, until all greens are wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Transfer vegetables to a colander to drain well and press out liquid with back of a large spoon. Toss vegetables with cream sauce and transfer to a buttered 12-inch oval gratin or 2-quart shallow baking dish, spreading evenly.
8. Top vegetables with bread crumbs and bake in middle of oven until bubbling and topping is golden, about 20 minutes.

RESULTS:
Now, I'm sure this would have been a perfectly lovely dish if you make it as directed... OR! you could replace the heavy cream with half-and-half, cut down on the amount of chard you use (say, one bunch instead of two), and throw some cooked pasta in the baking dish with the chard before you bake it to make it into a more complete side dish. Yum!

One thing, I didn't love the breadcrumbs, and I actually enjoyed the sauce a lot more before baking. The cream sort of disappeared, which may be because of the pasta, I don't know. If you really want to have the crunch of the bread, I would recommend cutting a couple slices of french bread into little cubes, tossing that with olive oil, salt and pepper, and putting that on top. Healthier and tastier.

A girl's first blizzard

Lest you think I should gird myself for blizzards to be commonplace, no one at work--even the people who have lived here their whole lives--could remember the last time we had a blizzard warning. I think it has to do with there being lots of wind in addition to lots of snow. The really crazy thing is the entire state has blizzard warning. Maybe not the very SE part or the very northern part, but the rest of it, definitely. Wisconsin is not a small state. It would probably take a good 7 hours to drive from top to bottom. That distance would get you into South Carolina if you left from DC. Crazy.

ADDENDUM: The governor canceled all the UW schools in the state, and my director told me not to come in, so we both have a snow day! The lesson learned here is that it takes a blizzard to get a snow day in south central WI. :)

Something cool I found out this morning: local band (and I mean local, as in, from Eau Claire) Bon Iver has an album that was named to NPR's 50 most influential albums of the decade. I didn't even know that people outside of the area had heard of Bon Iver, so this was a surprise to me, as was seeing the Facebook status update of an Irish friend of mine who is apparently a big fan, so it's even an international hit. Surprising. This finally prompted me to download that album, and it is pretty good. Sort of moody like Nick Drake or Alexi Murdoch.

Guide to Freezing Foods

Bethie sent me a link to a Washington Post article about freezing food. Here's a really neat guide to freezing, a la Alton Brown, including the science of what happens and an explanation of what can go wrong. Thanks Beth!