Slaw That

spitzkraut dissected (Eat Me. Drink Me.)

Speak to me wonders, oh cabbage slaw. Your rings, wound and crenellated round a core. Sliceable, screaming of spring. Fit for kings, yet cheap enough to make poor men sing. Cabbage, cabbage, speak to me divine things.

As we tentatively dive into spring, I find myself increasingly drawn to greener things and (clearly also) 18th century romantic poetry which inspires me to write extravagant and rather ode-ish sentences to cabbage.

Nothing wrong with that. Cabbage is great.

Cabbage gets a bad rep for being cheap and one-dimensional, but I would like to do a little salvaging on behalf of the image. Cabbage is versatile. Main ingredient in stir-frys and slaws, stew-filler, a hull for ground beef and spices. A pinch of crispness in a rice salad or the vinegary tang topping a pulled pork sandwich. And the types of cabbage – there’s red cabbage, green cabbage, Chinese cabbage, Savoy, Napa, bok choy – and here in Germany, I’ve discovered yet another lovely variety called Sptizkraut.

cabbage (Eat Me. Drink Me.) cabbage about to become a slaw (Eat Me. Drink Me.)

It’s a spitzkraut I’m working with today, a baby one about the size of a kitten with smooth, light green skin. It squeaks apart as I cut it into perfect rings with my knife.

The fresh, green foods I crave in spring mean my meals all take a healthy bent – not a bad thing, considering my cooking habits in Germany have inclined towards excessive use of butter and heavy whipping cream during this past winter. But as usual, I haven’t been grocery shopping in a while, and all I have in the fridge is this cabbage and some chiles, some slim pickings of condiments.

Though to make a springtime lunch, that’s all you need. Dijon mustard and farmer’s cheese spread thickly on freshly toasted bread, topped with a simple slaw of cabbage, red onions, and chiles – the dressing no more than rice wine vinegar, grainy mustard, lemon juice, sriracha, mirin, honey, salt, black pepper, and garlic.

toast with dijon and farmer's cheese (Eat Me. Drink Me.) Asian-inspired slaw (Eat Me. Drink Me.)

I eat my open-faced sandwich, I’ll make a cup of coffee and sit in the kitchen letting the sunlight in through the windows, pretending its warmer than it really is. Read a magazine. Let the lightness carry me away. Oh cabbage, oh cabbage.

a + b = open-faced slaw sandwiches (Eat Me. Drink Me.) self-portrait with slaw sandwich (Eat Me. Drink Me.)

Comments

  1. fearsomebits says:

    this made me grin for a whole 10 minutes after reading! =D
    great job!

  2. ron says:

    put a little pastrami on that sandwich, little hot mustard, and a few red onions and you will be smoking…maybe even a slice of some smoked cheeses

    yes, cabbage can be used in so many ways. fried cabbage in bacon grease till it is lightly brown is the best. serve with a nice pot roast and drop biscuits…mmmm

  3. Grandma xoxo (the other Elizabeth) says:

    Wasn’t your baby brother called spitzkraut by Hansvetter? If so, do you feel a little cannabalistic? Does this meal on a clean the fridge satisfy the big brother, who I think of as an empty pit. At any rate, we are quite fond of cabbage and that open faced sandwich looks good to me! I’ll probably have to put a couple of slices of ham on top to keep Grandpa from loosing weight. Poor thing.

  4. Sylvia says:

    …do something with you the love, if you cook ?

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