Hiya folks,

I have a glut of cabbage still in the ground and need to find uses for it. There are only 2 of us who eat cabbage in the house (the toddler doesn't) and I can't eat too much at one go or my digestion ain't happy.

There are only so many nights of bacon and cabbage that we can face, and we've had a load of stirfries too (using the shredded cabbage, PSB and some cauliflower as well). And I've given one head to my sis when she visited.

But I still have about 10 heads left, and no way to use them strikes me. They are not round, ball cabbages or crinkly savoy ones - they are like "April" but don't know the actual variety (plug plants last autumn). (Not only am I wanting to eat them as they are ready for harvesting, I need the ground space for the summer squashes, courgettes and sweetcorn!).

Anyone any ideas?
Even a recipe for minestrone would make use of some of it over the weekend if anyone has one?

Wings

Can you freeze some? Shred it first and bag it up? Am sure it woldn't lose much crispness that way.

janeyo

If you wanted to go Chinese then you might try cabbage leaves stuffed with pork and bean sprouts - lovely. It's basically a cabbagey take on pork stuffed lettuce leaves. I'll dig out the recipe if you fancy the idea. Also, you could shred it v finely, crisp up with caster sugar and serve as Chinese seaweed as a garnish or side dish. I'll keep thinking!

Coleslaw, but not freezable. Other than what has been suggested, then soups are always good for freezing.

I love cabbage. You can make a delicious soup by adding shredded cabbage to a basic vegetable soup, potato, carrots, celery, onion. A good bit of ketchup is the secret ingredient to the best cabbage soup. You can also make stuffed cabbage known as holubtsi (hole-up-chee) in Ukranian. It's easy. Remove the core of the cabbage and steam briefly until the head if ready to fall apart. Then leaves are then stuffed and rolled up with a mixture of cooked rice, onion, and group beef, (or meat substitute if you're a vegetarian like me.) Place the cabbage rolls in a baking dish or roaster, cover with tomato juice, puree, or whatever tomato sauce you prefer (it can be thinned with broth or water until it's a consistency of your liking.) Cover with foil and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I have also seen recipes that used a stuffing of buckwheat and bacon.

Take a look at vegboxrecipes.co.uk.

Bubble and Squeak Rosti from Delia Online

you can freeze it too .............

No elderly neighbours who'd be glad of a head of fresh cabbage?

Ok - shot me down if you must but.... Do you know anyone with guinea pigs, rabbits or hens? Any of those would love a cabbage that might otherwise go to waste.

Failing that, coleslaw, stuffed leaves, stir-fry, is it Colcannon (sp?) that has greens in it?

Chop it up, blanche it, then freeze the lot in seperate bags/tubs etc in manageable portions.

You've then bought yourself some time to think up recipes, and cook it all without being sick of cabbage!

It's lovely baked in the oven in a cheese sauce. Boil the cabbage very lightly, season well with salt and pepper, pour the cheese sauce over, sprinle with grated cheese (and bread crumbs if you have them ready. I keep them to hand in the freezer) and put in the oven for about 20 mins.
The real secret is to grow the amount you and your family are happy to eat.
Still working on that one myself.

Cabbage is great for thinkening up curries and cassoroles.

Love this variation on "cabbage with bacon":
steam the cabbage lightly and press out excess water
make a thick batter with about 200g flour and 250ml milk
chop 100g bacon, some garlic & shallots, some fresh herbs & add to the batter
Make a batter-cabbage-batter sandwich in a buttered oven dish
Put in the oven until it's brown - about half an hour.

Thanks all - there are some great ideas there that I will be trying - certainly never thought of the baking in cheese sauce (sounds yum!) and the batter-sandwich sounds good too.

As it happens, I also donated 4 heads to 3 aunts and uncles over the weekend (I still have 2 heads in my fridge and about 7/8 more in the ground) so plenty to try most of these ideas out.

And next year, I will NOT be buying a set of plug plants which includes 15 heads each of 2 types as well as 15 caulis, 15 PSB and 15 White SB) to feed 2 of us. I think I managed to reduce amounts sowing my on seeds, and I will start harvesting a lot sooner when plants are smaller too to avoid such a glut.

Wings

Sauerkraut is easy to make. I have some in my basement as we talk.

Dean