Golden Brown, Sweet Caramelized Cabbage for “The Luck O’ the Irish” on St. Paddy’s Day!

Think you don’t like cabbage? Then you’ve never tasted caramelized, golden brown, stir fried cabbage. If you are not a lover of cabbage, you will become a boisterous believer after you try this very simple recipe, and so will any person you serve it to. But hurry! St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th would be the ideal time to get a taste of the “Luck O’ the Irish.” Any time I serve Caramelized Cabbage, my guests ask, “What is this? It’s delicious!” They practically fall out of their seats when I reveal, “It’s sautéed cabbage.”

It tastes like candy, I promise!

Katherine’s Caramelized Cabbage

My favorite variety of cabbage is the milder, more tender Savoy Cabbage, but any type works brilliantly prepared this way.

Directions:
In a large skillet (iron works best), heat a couple of tablespoons of Canola Oil on medium/high. The temperature has to be hot enough to evaporate the water leaching from the cabbage as it cooks. For exceptional cabbage, or any vegetable, allowing it to drown in its own water leads to your steaming it instead of sautéing it. Steaming does not achieve the mouth-watering flavor you crave. I learned this tip from celebrity chef, Alton Brown. Every vegetable I’ve served using this method gets devoured. And since veggies should dominate your meals, they have to taste good, well, not just good: Mind blowing! 

I digress…

Once the oil is hot (“Don’t add anything until the oil is hot,” says Seasons Culinary’s Chef, Janis McLean),  add the chopped (not grated) cabbage. Chop the cabbage into rough chunks (Definitely more Irish-like). No neat or perfect, petite cubes allowed (too British-like for our purposes here). Add onions and garlic if you wish. Add diced red bell pepper for color, too. Sauté until golden while constantly stirring. This may take about 25 to 30 minutes so if you’ve got kids (slaves) around, throw them into the mix. Keep scraping the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry if the pan is getting brown. Just keep scraping and tossing. Let sit for 10 or 20 seconds between tosses to caramelize the cabbage nicely, but don’t let it burn. Add a pinch of salt and pepper after about 15 minutes of sautéing. Keep sautéing until the mixture is nicely browned and tastes sweet.

Cabbage, like most vegetables, is about 90% water, so it will cook down a lot – and in the process keep you slim and trim because it fills you up with very few calories.

Use at least a whole head. If you have any left, toss it into soup, or make your own simple soup by adding broth. You could call it, if you felt generous at the moment (I did not mean to doubt your generosity), “Katherine’s Cabbage ‘Diet’ Soup.” 

This is perfect served the traditional Irish way on St Paddy’s Day: With cabbage, potatoes, carrots and corned beef. If you’d rather not eat red meat, chicken and fish are excellent choices.

But most importantly, don’t forget the green Guinness Stout, nonalcoholic beer, Irish Whiskey, or smoothie.

Enjoy! And may the road rise up to meet ye…