Week 13: August 18 – 24 (Part II)

I have a confession to make.  I bought grocery store produce yesterday.  It wasn’t anything I could have gotten elsewhere, though.  It was limes to make green salsa out of the tomatillos, cilantro, and hot pepper that I bought at the farmers market last week. The previous time I bought grocery store produce was in May, when I bought a bunch of bananas, which are also not available locally.

On the topic of fruit, we got four more blackberries from our bushes. They might be done for the season, having given us a total harvest of 35 berries. I think I’ve heard that it takes berries about three years to really establish, and this is year two for our plants, so next year should be much better for all three of our berries: blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

I was so efficient last week at freezing what would freeze that by the end of the week I was having trouble devising meals.  My usual way of meal planning is to look in my veggie drawers (or my whole fridge, when the veggies have overflowed) to identify what will go bad soonest.  Then I build a meal around that vegetable, also using other vegetables if they work together.  By the end of the week I had red cabbage, white (or yellow?) potatoes, red potatoes, yellow carrots, orange carrots (of two varieties), beets, radishes, parsley, and the salsa ingredients.  Out of that lot, the most perishable were the red cabbages and the older potatoes, the white ones. 

What do you make with cabbage and potatoes? Colcannon, of course.  And if the cabbages happen to be red?  Why, then you get purple colcannon. Here’s my recipe, adapted from Joy of Cooking (I changed the cabbage, cooking time, and seasoning).

1. Cut about one pound of potatoes into large-bite-sized pieces.  Put them in a saucepan.
2. Cut one tiny head or half a normal red cabbage head (which are typically smaller than green cabbage heads) into quarters, core, then cut slices about 3/4 inch wide.  Put them in the saucepan on top of the potatoes.
3. Put water in the saucepan so it just covers the cabbage.  (The potatoes need to boil but the cabbage can steam). 
4. Put a lid on the saucepan and bring the water to a boil.
5. Boil for about 15 minutes, or until putting a fork into the potatoes causes them to break. 
6. While the potatoes and cabbage boil, put 1/4 cup milk and 1 tbsp butter into a microwave-safe something-or-other.  I simply added the butter to the Pyrex measuring cup I used for the milk.  Add salt and pepper generously, a dash or two of garlic powder, and (the secret to yumminess) about a tablespoon of caraway seeds.  (Tip for the locals:  Penzey’s Spices on Mass Ave in Arlington has the best prices around on caraway seeds in useful quantities.)  Microwave the milk mixture for half a minute, then stir to finish melting the butter, dissolving the salt, and mixing in the seasonings.
7. Separate the potatoes and cabbage from the cooking liquid.  I saved mine, added salt and pepper, and put the amethyst-colored vegetable broth into my freezer. 
8. Pour the warm milk mixture over the potatoes and cabbage.  Stir to mix.  Mash gently, until the mixture is lumpy but cohesive. 
9. Serve.
10. Enjoy!

I really should have photographed the purple colcannon.  It was impressive.  Instead, I photographed the carrots (yellow and orange) and radishes for tabbouleh, while they were sitting in salt, while the bulghur sat plumping in boiling water.  The finished tabbouleh included parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, in addition to the bulghur and the vegetables you see here.

pretty carrots and radishes

Tags: blackberries, cabbage, carrot, parsley, potato, radish