Eat Around the Pitt is a Transplant's View of Pittsburgh and Food.
Recently in Category: Cheap Eats
July 27, 2008
What to do with Cabbage
Posted by Kathryn @ 12:18 PM
So as it is CSA season, I frequently end up with one particular vegetable piling up over a couple of weeks. It isn't that I don't like Cabbage, it is more that it is one of the few early summer veggies that will last a while in the fridge and the majority of my favorite recipes for cabbage are really hot more wintry fare. Eventually I get too much of it and something must be done!
So whenever I have a vegetable without a dish I spend some quality time flipping through cookbooks for ideas. One struck my fancy for cabbage. Cabbage Gratin from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for everyone. After I made it, I decided it was a true winner... unfortunately I don't have any good pictures because we ate it too fast! The end result is a nutty almost broccoli frittata flavor ( not surprising considering they are the same family). Next time I might try a higher ratio of cream/milk to egg so that it is creamier, but that would just be for the sake of experimentation... the casserole was gorgeous as it was.
Butter and freshly grated Parmesan for the dish
1 1/2 pounds cabbage ( I used a mix of green varieties) diced into 2 inch squares
1/3 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup creme fraiche or cream ( I used some butter since I had neither on hand)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
3 eggs
3 tb parsley
salt and pepper
I also tossed in some ground mustard and some leftover cheddar
Preheat the oven to 375. Butter the dish and coat with parmesan. Boil cabbage for 5 minutes in salted water. drain pressing out as much water as possible. Whisk remaining ingredients together and then add cabbage. Bake for 50 minutes until firm and lightly brown.
So this past weekend I wanted to do a BBQ because the weather was so nice. This Texan cannot resist the opportunity to sear meat on a grill, but in this instance many of my guests followed a vegetarian diet, avoided milk products, or had other dietary restrictions. So I decided to change up the traditional Chicago slider to fit their needs a bit better! So here comes the lentil slider. It looks suspiciously like a falafel on a small bun, but it has a differently delicious texture/flavor combo.
Zest and Juice of one lemon
6 scallions chopped
3/4 of a package of lentils cooked through
2/3 of a baguette or other bread (check the ingredients for milk products or eggs) whole wheat works nicely
Salt
Ground Pepper
1/4 cup mint
1/4 cup parsley
1-2 tsp cumin
2 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground coriander seed
2 tsp of cornstarch in 2 tb of water or an egg
3 TB olive oil
Blitz the bread in a food processor. Add the additional ingredients and blend to a paste (don't loose all of the lentil texture, but if you are using cornstarch rather than egg it will need to be more pureed so that the patties don't fall apart. Heat a skillet with additional olive oil and roll1-2 tb quantities of the puree into balls. Fry each patty until golden brown on both sides. Place on a tiny roll and serve with tahini or yogurt with mint and lemon zest as toppings.
The patties are also excellent on a salad. I know it is CSA time so many people are trying to come up with new ways to spice up lettuce and this is a great one!
It has come to my attention that Pretzels... particularly fresh soft salted pretzels are big around here. Pittsburghers seem particularly fond of a spot called the Pretzel Shop. Admittedly while I was living off Carson Street I frequently passed by the shop on the way to the bus. I regularly wondered why the shop was not open in the evenings when people might pick up a pretzel to eat before or after the beer they drank at other fine Carson St. establishments. So one day I don't have any cereal in the house and I decide to stop to try a Pretzel. In addition to the Pretzel, a Pepperoni Roll caught my eye. The pepperoni roll was perfect! The pretzel was a tad eggy for my taste, but I figured I would give the place another try. Just yesterday the opportunity arose to check out the Pretzel Shop again. I was early for an appointment on Carson St. It was cold and rainy... what a better time for a hot pretzel could there be? So I head over to the shop and there is a line inside. The people in line are pros.. they just say 10 or 2, they don't even specify what it is they want. Clearly these Pittsburghers are not easily distracted by pepperoni rolls or pretzel sandwiches. It was finally clear why this place has no need to be open in the evenings... they probably sell out by early afternoon at the rate people were hauling out large bags of Pretzels.
This time the pretzel was great. Then of course a coworker told me the secret is to go early in the morning around back where you can pick up a pretzel right out of the oven. Darn it! That means I have to go back to seek pretzel nirvana early in the morning. At 50 cents each I am sold!
Today I had a networking lunch with someone who helped me find a job here in Pittsburgh. As she had been a student at CMU but had not been around campus much recently she recommended that we check out Il Valletto on Forbes. She couldn't quite remember the name, only that some of the guys at school called it "Romantic's." Which I suppose is a fitting name from a college student's perspective. Il Valletto is right about Panther Hollow next to a vintage clothing store. I had peered in the window several times and wondered about this curiousity that combines card tables and folding chairs with white table clothes.
My friend was held up looking for a place to park, so I had a chance to peruse the menu and note the special prix fixe options for Valentines Day. While I don't think is on my romantic list, it was a good lunch option in Oakland. I had the veal and pancetta tortellini in vodka sauce with a cup of spicy white bean soup. The soup was not spicy as advertised, but had good flavor and was perfect on such a chilly day. The tortellini was generously sized, with a nice flavor, but also did not knock my socks off. So for an average italian meal at a student size price, Il Valletto's is a place to consider.
So I have passed the Orient Express almost every day since beginning work in Oakland. I always dismissed it because I am not a big bubble tea aficianado. Today though, my husband suggested we try it out for lunch. It is a simple restaurant with more ambiance then the neighboring Little Asia but less then Lulu's Noodle.
I opened the "dinner" menu and found on the last page a lunch menu. The typical suspects were present but I was pleasantly surprised to see Chinese Casseroles and other combinations on the adjoining page. I ordered beef curry with rice. The beef was pleasantly tender, there was no grizzle or visible fat to speak of, the sauce was nice but not over powering, and the portion was enormous. It could just be that beef potato and rice are filling, but it seemed like a mountain of food. For under 6 dollars I essentially bought myself two meals, which while not gourmet were nice winter comfort food. My husband ordered his perennial favorite at all Chinese restaurants, the lo mein lunch special. The vegetables looked fresh, the chicken was tender, and it seemed slightly less greasy than his favorite version, but on the whole had less soy flavor than he expected. One the side came a chicken teriyaki skewer. My husband thought it was good, but I thought it was rather bland and on the tough side. We both agreed that we would come back for the beef curry though!
Have you ever been told by someone that
you just must try something? Before moving to Pittsburgh my husband
and I had been told to try Primanti Bros Sandwiches. So the second
weekend we are in town, Ian and I head down Carson St. in search of
brunch, while we had no luck locating a suitable brunch spot, we did
see a Primanti Bros. I was hesitant since it wasn’t the original
location, but I was hungry so I caved. I order the Pittsburgh Cheese
“steak.” Being a newbie, I recognized that the quotations would
probably lead to disappointment but the description as the “second
most popular” menu item meant I had to order it. My companion
ordered the pastrami. When the sandwhiches came out, the fresh
Italian bread looked so promising. I quickly picked up a half of the
sandwich. The cheese steak was apparently a 1/4 inch thick burger (
more like a Salisbury steak considering it looked like it had been
simmering in a brown substance for a while). On top were the
promised fresh cut French fries…. Slick with oil and a pale creamy
color I realized there were not crunchy in the typical sense but
rather under cooked under salted blah potatoes. The coleslaw was
crunchy, but not particularly flavorful. Actually I would describe
both sandwiches as tasteless. Soon after this incident I mention the
“supposedly fun thing” to a colleague. He told me the secret.
Go out with friends, drink at least 5 beers, head over to Primanti
Bros about 1:00 AM and then it will hit the spot. So apparently I
will have to do a revisit to Primanti Bros under the correct
conditions and I will report back shortly.
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Tags: Cabbage Gratin,
Filed Under: Cheap Eats, In the Kitchen, Recipe, Recommendations,