Green Cabbage

Every year, we celebrate the heart of summer with a Sunday barbecue feast at Lucques. This annual tradition always includes at least four different barbecued meats, baked beans, long-cooked greens, grilled cornbread, and former Lucques chef Rob Chalmers’s infamous coleslaw. The first year he made it, he miscalculated “slightly” and made enough for about six hundred people! It became a running joke to tease Rob about his coleslaw, and for about a year after the barbecue, the servers and busboys used to greet every staff meal with the predictable, “What, no coleslaw?” Here is a manageable-sized recipe for Rob’s light, crunchy, and always satisfying slaw.

André Soltner is one of my culinary heroes. I admire his interpretations of regional dishes from his Alsatian homeland, which are refined enough to serve in one of New York City’s fanciest French restaurants yet still true to their humble origins. Only a great chef can strike that balance. I discovered his recipe for salmon sautéed in a bacon-and-egg “batter” and served with a brown butter sauce in the middle of summer, so I added corn to the sautéed cabbage for a sweet seasonal touch. The tart brown butter–vinegar sauce beautifully balances the smoky bacon and rich salmon.

Crushed pineapple is the standout ingredient in this pleasant slaw. It provides a good balance to spicy or bold dishes. I like it with Southwestern fare like Tortilla Casserole (page 104), but my favorite dish to serve it with is Pasta Jambalaya (page 123).

There are as many varieties of coleslaw as there are shades of pink, especially in the South! A lot of coleslaw recipes have sugar as an ingredient, but this one gets that bit of sweetness from sweet salad pickles, which don’t mask the fresh flavors of the cabbage and carrots. We serve this every Fourth of July with Barbecued Pork Ribs (page 84) and Easy Baked Beans (page 133).

Colcannon, a classic Irish combination of mashed potatoes with cabbage or kale, is standard winter fare. If that sounds, well, boring, trust us, this version is anything but that. We freshen it up by cooking the potatoes and cabbage separately, then we make it easy to serve for a party by adding an egg and baking it in a pie pan, so that you can cut it into wedges.

THIS HEALTHY SALAD, made with crunchy cabbage, sweet carrot, juicy chicken, and fresh cilantro, gets a bite from the lime jalapeño dressing.

JÍCAMA IS A ROOT VEGETABLE that is used throughout Latin America. It looks like a large radish and has a clean, neutral flavor that adds a crisp texture to any dish. This refreshing salad, with its Asian vinaigrette, will be a welcome addition to a summer picnic or barbecue. I leave out the salt and pepper because the soy sauce provides the seasoning.

WHY IT’S LIGHT Cut strips of sliced cabbage to resemble long, thin noodles and you can reduce the amount of real noodles by half. Cooked briefly, the cabbage wilts slightly but retains some of its characteristic crunch. Linguine stands in for the usual wheat-flour noodles (called lo mein) in this version of the Chinese take-out favorite, but you can use Asian noodles if you have them.

WHY IT’S LIGHT Many versions of North Carolina pulled pork are made with pork shoulder, but this one uses tenderloin for less fat. Use light or dark brown sugar depending on your taste preference; dark offers a more pronounced molasses flavor. Plenty of light cabbage slaw on top brings the sandwich into balance.

GOOD TO KNOW A favorite sandwich, redux: Instead of battering and deep-frying, fish fillets are cooked on the grill, with a mere brush of oil. Top with a tangy slaw and serve on toasted bread, and you won’t miss the original in the least.

If you’ve never had homemade sauerkraut before, it will be a revelation. And it is easy to make at home: the longer it ferments, the softer the texture and the more intense the flavor. The rule-of-thumb ratio is 1 1/2 teaspoons salt per pound of cabbage.

The major difference between stuffed cabbage and most other stuffed vegetables is that cabbage is inevitably cooked in a sauce; you can use the sweet-and-sour sauce here or simply simmer the leaves in Fast, Fresh Tomato Sauce (page 606). Serve either with crusty bread or, if your filling does not have much rice, over rice. Cabbage leaves also may be filled and stuffed exactly as you would grape leaves (page 446) and served hot or cold, again as you would grape leaves. You will have plenty of cabbage left over after you remove the leaves for stuffing; use it in any stir-fry or in rice or soup. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: any large leaves can be stuffed—grape leaves, collards, and turnip greens, for example.

Savory pies are favorites in Russia, and cabbage pie is the most common. I have not been there, but my friend Jacqueline Mitchell has, and she returned with this, certainly the easiest cabbage pie ever. I think it is best suited as an appetizer or a snack, but it’s an odd dish, good hot or at room temperature, mysteriously simple, and quite glorious when it’s done. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: any cabbage (red will not look too great, though it will taste fine), including Savoy and Napa.

Though Chinese cabbages, like bok choy and Napa, have become more widely available here, I still prefer this dish with ordinary green cabbage; its crunch is unsurpassed. Serve this with Basic Long-Grain Rice or Fried Rice (page 506).

Cabbage, when it begins to break down, becomes quite creamy, and that’s what makes this dish somewhat unusual. This will be stronger tasting if you use plenty of black and red pepper, olive oil, and pecorino or quite mild if you start with butter, reducing the black pepper, eliminating the red, and finishing with pecorino. You can also make it far more substantial; see the variation.

This is it: the famous sweet and spicy slaw from the restaurant that people come and buy by the bucketful. Make extra; trust us, you’ll need it!