When Mum moved back to the country a year ago, I jokingly told her I wanted my fridge to be stocked from her ever-expanding vegie patch and up until this point, she’d adequately supplied me with the odd bit of fresh fruit, vegetables and bunches of flowers, but last night Mum arrived at my place with supplies and five minutes later, I couldn’t actually fit anything else in my fridge. Cabbage, tomatoes, capsicum, parsley, lettuce, avocado, mushrooms, celery – not all of it from Mum’s garden, but enough to feed an army!
Add to this a road-trip weekend involving more than one trip to a certain fast food outlet and tonight I decided to go a bit crazy on the veg-front. Let’s be honest, I needed it.
Must-try Red Cabbage Braised with Apple, Bacon & Balsamic Vinegar
The red cabbage that Mum grew in her vegie patch was seriously impressive (both of us whipped out the camera for the money shot) and thankfully Jamie had a red cabbage recipe, which he recommends as an accompaniment for pork. So I ducked in to Woollies and grabbed a pork chop on my way home. But that was only the thing I bought, because who needs Woollies when you’ve got Mum!
The red cabbage is chopped in chunks and braised for an hour with bacon, fennel seeds, onion, apple and balsamic vinegar. The smell in the kitchen was sensational.
Meanwhile I tried to figure out how to use everything else. Sorry Jamie, but I ditched you on this mission and followed my instincts. I cooked up a pasta sauce using the tomatoes (and not actually all of them!), capsicum, celery, parsley, chilli and some red wine, S&P and sugar. Then sautéed the mushrooms with some red wine and oregano. A pot of spaghetti on the boil and I’ve got a variety of lunches that will last me a week. How cool is that? I can’t wait to have my own vegie patch.
Anyway, back to dinner and my cabbage with a pork chop and steamed greens was extremely delicious, a good remedy for a long long-weekend and a touch reminiscent of Oktoberfest.
Xx
PS – I also cooked from Jamie on my weekend away. I did Rosemary-roasted Cubed Potatoes for Sunday night BBQ dinner at Ween’s parents farm. I didn’t take a photo, but I assure you they were crispy and delicious.
PPS – Last week I had take-away Thai for dinner for the first time since I started the experiment and I can’t tell you how ridiculously excited I was about the prospect of the whole thing. It was the eating at home, but not cooking that was so appealing. My goodness, it’s a rollercoaster with me at the moment. Extreme eating.
No comments:
Post a Comment