© 2016 MarcaRelli
Cabbage is very filling. I’ll bet if you just ate cabbage you would starve to death and not even know it. Overcooking cabbage will render its sugar (same with onions) and the result is a sort of nutty-sweet flavor. Cabbage is also cheap. I purchased a 3 pound cabbage head for this recipe which, at fifty-nine cents a pound, came out to only a buck-seventy-seven. I like to use Don Pepino brand tomato (pizza) sauce for this, which is my favorite – I swear I could eat the stuff cold right out of the can* – but you can use any canned or jar tomato sauce you like.
I like to top this dish with a Poor Man’s Parmesan – toasted seasoned breadcrumbs – which adds a crunchy texture to the chew. If you have some stale bread lying around you can chop it fine and use that, otherwise get a can of seasoned breadcrumbs and you’re good to go.
If you have kids they might balk at this recipe, but the Poor Man’s Parmesan usually wins them over.
Need This
One large head of green cabbage (about three pounds)
4 large cloves of peeled garlic
1 – 16oz jar of tomato sauce (your favorite brand or the cheapest you can find)
Salt
Ground black pepper
Onion Powder
Olive oil (for frying)
For the Poor Man’s Parmesan
½ cup of breadcrumbs
Salt
Garlic Powder (about a teaspoon)
Dried oregano (about a tablespoon)
Non-stick cooking spray
Do This
Get a big sharp knife. Cut the cabbage into quarters and core out the hard stem at the bottom. Chop up the quartered cabbage (length wise will give you ribbons, width wise will give you chunks). Slice up the 4 cloves of garlic.
Do you still have all your fingers?
Pour a couple of good glugs of olive oil into a large frying pan – a Wok works best if you have one. Add the sliced garlic to the oil and put a medium heat under it. Fry the garlic until slightly golden (don’t burn it!). Add the chopped cabbage and stir in to coat with the hot oil. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the cabbage starts to turn a golden brown (about 20 minutes). The longer you cook it the sweeter it will be – but the more it will wilt. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste.
While the cabbage is cooking dump your jarred tomato sauce into a saucepan and heat on low heat.
For the Poor Man’s Parmesan
Spray a medium non-stick frying pan with non-stick cooking spray. Add the breadcrumbs, a few dashes of salt, the garlic powder and then the oregano. Give it a little mix – then hiss a little bit more of the cooking spray to the top of the mixture (do it from a little bit of a distance so that you don’t blow the breadcrumbs all over the place). Place the pan on the stove and toast the mixture over a medium-low heat stirring constantly until golden (about 3 or 4 minutes) – be careful not to burn the breadcrumb mixture as it can burn quickly. Then immediately remove the toasted mixture into whatever serving bowl you’re using for it.
Serve the caramelized cabbage in pasta bowls and top with the tomato sauce. Pass around the PMP.
Serves 4. My cost – approx. $ 4.89 total – about $ 1.22 per serving.
* I do not represent nor do I have any affiliation with nor any business interests in the Don Pepino brand of products… just sayin.