Sometimes plain. Sometimes not.
Sometimes spiced, making it hot.
This little rhyme reminded me of an old commercial for chocolate bars.
'Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't.'
I realized it's exactly the same when adding spices. Sometimes you feel like spicing things up a bit while others times not. It got me thinking about the last few recipes I posted. In the category of 'sometimes plain', my recent post for a quick, pull together stir fry didn't utilize any spices. That recipe was all about letting the vegetables do the talking. In the 'sometimes not' category, my recipe for cauliflower was all about zinging up the veg and making them sing.
Although I'm not feeling like a nut, I am definitely yearning more spice lately. It could just be 2018, as many things are being spiced up for me this year. My 2017 was a bit bland, but 2018 is shaping up to be banging.
So with that, here's another spiced up idea for slabs of vegetables. Given the recent slabbing of cauliflower and dousing with spices, the heads of cabbage were destined to meet the same fate.
Normally, my first 3 thoughts for using cabbage are:
- Slaw
- Soup
- Stir fry
On first viewing, I see cabbage and think of slaw. Hence being at the top of the list. Then soup, then stir fry. Since slaw is usually cold food/warm weather food- scratch that. Number two on the list is soup and that completely fits the cold weather/warm food criteria, and was actually my intention when I bought them. However, I just wasn't feeling soupy. And third on the list was stir fry. And as you know, of the three cabbages I bought, the Savoy cabbage actually did make it into the stir fry recipe. But now I had two other heads staring back at me. My need for variety coupled with my recent desire for spice was screaming at me, 'You can't make stir fry again!'
Which forced me to add #4 to my hit list...
Roast it, baby!
Hey, this is not such a far fetched idea. I roast everything. Much like the cauliflower, it was time to heat things up both in temperature and flavor.
Once again, not wanting a big fuss because I had no idea how this would turn out or what I would serve this with, I kept the prep fairly simple.
Ingredients
1 small purple cabbage, cut in 3/4 - 1" slabs
1 small green cabbage, cut in 3/4 - 1" slabs
1 rounded t each of cayenne, turmeric, paprika
1 t salt
¼ t red pepper flakes
1 heaping T freshly grated ginger
1 heaping T grated garlic
4-5 T olive oil
Instructions
Cut the cabbage in thick slabs and place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 T oil.
In small bowl, mix the cayenne, turmeric and paprika. Then sprinkle the mixture on both sides of the cabbage slabs.
In another small bowl, grate the ginger and garlic, add the red pepper flakes, salt and oil. Mix and then brush on each slab.
Roast in a 425 degree oven until soft in the middle and a little crisp on the edges, turning them to ensure they are well roasted on both sides.
Once they were done I will admit I wasn't sure what I would do with big spicy slabs. Certainly, they could be served as a side dish with jasmine rice and grilled chicken or fish. This would be great with Tikka Chicken and a cucumber yogurt sauce. But I didn't have any of that made, so I packed them up and stored them in the fridge. As the next day dawned, these spiced cabbages solved a lunch dilemma. I decided they would be the feature in Indian inspired tacos. I sautéd some spinach and warmed the cabbage. Grilled corn tortillas melting some cheese on them. Then filled them with the vegetables and topping it with sour cream. Quite the tasty bite.
