Thursday 24 October 2013

Mystery Carvings

 4 points to anyone who can tell me where these carvings are (name of building required, not just place name).

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A la cuisine hier: In an effort to use up the clearly excellent but unloved cabbage in the fridge I made a small batch of coleslaw yesterday. Now, coleslaw is one of my least favourite things, but still I make it from time to time because Simon will eat it if it's doused in sufficient quantities of mayo*. In order to come up with something that might challenge my antipathy I tried this recipe from Clotilde Dusoulier on Chocolate and Zucchini. This undoubtedly means Simon won't eat it, but Clotilde is right -- ginger root makes a terrific flavour pairing with raw cabbage -- but that's about as far as I will go. Coleslaw is coleslaw, innit?

That still left me with half a cabbage, so half of that has gone into chicken soup, my standard Yiddish Oriental fusion recipe. A good rich stock disguises cabbage admirably. Should I turn the rest into that cabbage soup classic from south-west France, garbure? I've got some duck legs in the freezer that need using. Or should I stir fry it? What would you do?

*Ken -- I tried your 'chuck it all in together' technique, and it's brilliant!
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Quiz Answer: The carvings are on the Tour Saint Antoine in Loches.

14 comments:

Tim said...

Susan, is this a white cabbij or a krinkli Savoy [Milan]...
we grow the latter... because we prefer them... actually have a flavour.

However, if 'tis a bland white cabbij and you are down to the heart of the beast...
then my Mum's old "stir fry" is a good-un...
you need Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Streaky Bacon to make it... the squeeeeezy, unreal HTK is actually perfect for this.
The Streaky Bacon comes from Lidl..,
"Poitrine de porc fumée traitée en salaison"... there are times when I think the French really should use the English!!*
It keepeth very well in the freezer, it do too!

Anyhowz, taketh a large ognion and slice it fyne... set it to frye in some oil of olives...
alonge wyth the bacon sliced into a thumbs width...
carveth up the cabbij into ye square flakes of a thumbs width...
make ye sure that all are broken well apart...
when the ognion hath coloured like an autumn leaf, chucketh in the carved cabbij and stir it all around until the cabbij beginneth to soften...
add ye then the essence of tomato and for bytes of the same...
some sunne-dryed of the same.
Serveth to thye hungry hordes!!

I said it was an old recip!!

* As opposed to things like "le parking"

Tim said...

I forgot to mention the ground pepper in the recip...
and "ye salte to tayste!" [Depends on your bacon]...

I made a celeric, apple, mooli radish and carrot slaw the other day...
we are still eating it... a quarter celeriac, one of our huge apples and the mooli and carrots made a huge bowlful!!
No cabbij involved, Simon, but plenty of Benedicta, some yoghurt, extra oil, salt and pepper.
Excellent...
but I think I will try Clotted Cream's recette...
once I've had time to recover from her incredibubble smile at this hour of the day...
[a couple of weeks, probably!]

Colin and Elizabeth said...

What is wrong with plain cabbage?

Tim said...

Plain cabbij is usually an overcooked, ghastly substance...
especially Spring Cabbage!!

In the above recip... a casting of Carvi [caraway] or Cumin seed goes well.... not too much, though.

In fact we do do a plain steamed cabbij...
which is then tossed in Vigean's "Frooty & Knutts"...
and salt, plenty of coarsely ground black pepppppppa and some cumin seed added...
and finished by a quick toss around over heat.

In fact, if you look through recipe books for cabbij...
most seem to be based on a way of disguising the taste!!

Ken Broadhurst said...

Susan, and Tim, and Colin and Elizabeth,

Walt and I love cabbage and eat a lot of it. The best thing you can do with chou blanc is to make choucroute with it. But it's good as coleslaw or boiled in a soup or potée too.

Susan, glad the chuck-it-all-in mayo worked for you. For coleslaw, we use shredded cabbage and a small amount of grated carrot. The dressing is one-half mayo and one-half plain yogurt, with a dose of Savora (do you know that condiment?) for color and flavor.

I've discovered that mayo + yogurt is much better than straight mayo in coleslaw or creamy salad dressings (ranch, thousand island) — especially if you use commercially available mayo, which needs its sweetness cut in half, at least. The yogurt also loosens up the mayo and gives a more liquid dressing.

Ken Broadhurst said...

Tim, you need some help with your English spelling. And ketchup on cabbage? Yuck. But maybe that's just a prejudice... What about some good tomato sauce made with the harvest of this year's vegetable garden?

Susan said...

C&E: plain steamed cabbage isn't inedible, but it's fairly low on my list of things I would choose to eat. I'm not a fan of mustard flavours (with a very few exceptions).

Ken: choucroute is a great idea as Simon loves it. Sadly, I haven't had much luck in the past with making my own. Can you suggest a good recipe or instructions?

Your coleslaw recipe is the same as what I would normally make,except for the Savora (which I don't know) but I decided to get a bit more creative yesterday. The mayo is cut with yoghurt as you describe. I never use commercial mayo. I'll check out the Savora next time I go shopping.

Tim: it's a Savoy. If I'm going to eat cabbage that's my preference.

melinda said...

we've started having coleslaw with asian dressing ....u can buy bottled here but it has ginger, garlic & sesame oil in it....i put snow peas & green onions in too

Ken Broadhurst said...

I don't think savoy cabbage is the right choice for coleslaw. But that's just my opinion. Chou blanc is better.

Now I understand, Susan, why you didn't think much of my collard greens. You have to like cabbage, collards, kale, brussels sprouts, etc. to appreciate collards.

GaynorB said...

I think I'd stir fry.

We love cabbage; I add butter and pepper to give it a boost.

Susan said...

Ken: curiously, I do really like brussels sprouts. Go figure!

Tim said...

Try Brussel Sprouts with Chestnuts... always a Christmas favourite as I was growing up and still is!

And I agree with Ken...
a Savoy just ain't right for a slaw...
wrong texture and too strong a flavour!

Tim said...

And Ken...
the ketchup works, trust me...
I've tried to use something like puree/paste...
or even pasata...
neither work!!

Tim said...

And after a set of very heavy cabbage related comments...
what is the answer to the mystery stonework...
personally, I have "blind Cervidae"!

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