Eating a Whole Savoy Cabbage

If you’re cooking for one then it’s easy to avoid and ignore “large vegetables”, opting instead for handy ready chopped fresh or frozen produce…. a route I’ve usually taken in the past.  For some peculiar reason though I  picked up a whole Savoy cabbage from Aldi last Thursday as I was “sucked in” by this week’s Super Six Special Offers just inside the door.

Right now this large and fresh Savoy cabbage is not looking anything like a “Super” anything …. and my kitchen is beginning to smell of cabbage, so it needs cooking today/tomorrow at the latest (I said that yesterday … and the day before).

Why Buy a Savoy Cabbage!?

The cabbage cost 45p and seemed a bargain…. the trouble is I also picked up a whole swede and a pack of three parsnips…. so that’s a lot of veggie eating I’ll have to be doing! And don’t suggest “soup” as I’m not a big fan of making soup …. I like soup, but not the same one more than once in 4-5 years, so even freezing many leftover portions is not something that floats my boat.

Lesson learnt: only buy one vegetable at a time 🙂  Families don’t look at Savoy cabbages and say “Look, cabbage, let’s get ONE EACH!” but that’s what singles have to do, those cooking for one…. whatever you buy you have to eat…. ALL of it.  The last cabbage I bought is, in my opinion, better for cooking for one – it was a Sweetheart Cabbage, which I steamed; Sweetheart cabbages are much smaller so easier to get through!

What I plan to do with this Savoy cabbage is to simply steam it, then eat some of it immediately and freeze some of it….  then what?

• I’ll probably make some bubble and squeak as that’s easy enough – I make a microwave bubble & squeak and I can use Savoy cabbage in that.  I might put it under the grill to brown the top, or oven bake it, but that’s extra time, so we’ll see how that goes.
• I do like plain steamed cabbage and mash as side dishes, but that’s more of a main/Sunday lunch meal and I’m not planning on one of those for a few weeks, so that’s not possible
• I could make Dolmades – which are simply stuffed cabbage leaves.  I’ve got rice, onions and some lurking beef mince in the freezer, so that would be easy.  I’d make those in the microwave.  But I won’t. Not today.  I do like Greek flavours, but usually make the stuffed cabbage filling without bothering to use it to stuff cabbage leaves!

Overall …. I think buying this whole Savoy cabbage was a big mistake, as I now have to get round to eating it, but none of it will go to waste!  Let’s call this “the last cabbage I’ll be buying this year!”