Tomato Cabbage Stew

Cabbage is cheap in the stores at the moment, so we've been buying a ton.  I sometimes think a lot of people don't know what to do with cabbage.  I see a lot of recipes for raw cabbage in salads and I've seen some baked stuffed cabbage rolls.  And there is the infamous cabbage soup diet that I see links to every time I google cabbage.  I think cabbage is excellent shredded and fried with potatoes and it's good pan-fried with a little olive oil or margarine and tossed over pasta.

My 3-year old took this photo.

Cabbage just might be my favourite vegetable.  I've blogged about cabbage soup (and that is a very good recipe, if I do say so myself) and borscht.  Casserole.  Weird (but delicious) salad.  And, of course, sauerkraut, more sauerkraut, and kimchi.  And random cabbagey food pr0n (steamed sweetheart cabbage with lemon juice, olive oil, and toasted pine nuts).  You might have spotted some in my photo of hot & sour soup.  You get the idea.  I love cabbage.

Today, I decided I'd make some tomato cabbage stew. 

As usual, I started off by frying some onions in oil.  I added black pepper, paprika, chili pepper, parsley, and thyme.  Then I added some passata (sieved pureed tomatoes), a glug of dry vermouth (you could sub dry sherry or white wine or omit booze altogether), a glug of soy sauce, some cabbage (I used savoy, but any will do), and some haricot (navy) beans.  You could also add some shredded carrots.  Simmer that shizzle until the cabbage is tender.  I threw in a little grated fresh horseradish because I am wild like that.  Serve with pasta or potatoes or on it's own.  Sometimes I eat it right out of the pan when no one is looking.  You can get away with that kind of thing if you are the only one in the house who can cook.

Creepy close-up.  It's coming to get you.