Braised Cabbage- cold weather comfort food

I read a lot of food blogs daily. I always seem to stumble upon more great food sites that give me ideas and tons of recipes to try. Amateur Gourmet (written by Adam Roberts) is one of my favorites and I've tried many of the recipes from the blog (like this, this one here, and oh yea..this one too).

A few weeks ago I read a post where the Amateur Gourmet made braised cabbage. It sounded so good and so cozy and comfort food-y that I had to try it. And it was so good that I made it again and tweaked it a bit to make it more "Foodie In Training" and less "Amateur Gourmet".

I also wanted to attempt the recipe because at Mulvins (the local farm stand in Sandusky), they have beautiful cabbages about the size of a small child. I swear, they are seriously about twice the size of your run-of-the-mill grocery store cabbage. Anytime I can try a new recipe AND buy locally..it's all systems go for this gal!

So, did I mention that this recipe is also super easy? It takes a bit of time in the oven, but other than that it's some chopping of vegetables and that's about it. Adam from Amateur Gourmet got this recipe from Molly Steven's "All About Braising" cookbook so my first attempt I followed his adaptation of the recipe:

Preheat the oven to 325

Oil a 9 x 13 baking dish (I just drizzled a bit olive oil into the baking dish)

Cut green cabbage (about 2 lbs.)* into 8 wedges

Lay wedges in dish

scatter one thickly sliced yellow onion over the top along with a carrot (I used 2 smaller carrots) cut into 1/4 inch rounds

drizzle 1/4 olive oil over the top and 1/4 cup chicken stock or water

season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes

cover tightly with foil and in the oven it goes for 1 hour.

after an hour, remove cover and flip wedges and recover for another hour

Once cabbage is tender, remove foil and boost heat up to 400 degrees for about 15 minutes (or until top is browned and crispy.

Season lightly with salt and it's ready to serve!!

*Erin used about a 4 lb. cabbage..seriously it was huge

My first time making it I decided to add two cloves of garlic (I'm beginning to think I can't make a dish with adding a little bit of garlic..it make EVERYTHING good). I unpeeled it, but left the garlic whole more for flavor than texture or bite.

My second time making the braised cabbage it was a windy, blustery day- just perfect for a warm and comforting meal. THIS time I decided to turn up the volume and add some different ingredients. I had some fennel in the fridge, so I coarsely chopped the bulb and scattered that on top of the cabbage. I also didn't have any yellow onion so I coarsely chopped half a medium red onion and scattered that on top as well. The addition of the fennel was key, the flavor was great and it worked really well with the cabbage. And the red onion also was really nice because it turned a bit sweet and was a nice compliment to the spice from the red pepper flakes.

The dish has been a hit both times so I recommend you try it. It's great when it's bitterly cold out with a bowl of hot soup, but I think it would be good in any weather. Happy braising!

Homemade Applesauce

Growing up I LOVED applesauce. Especially the way my mom prepared it, which is how she had it growing up, which is also how my grandma had it growing up.  We had applesauce a lot for dinner because my and my sister liked it so much (my sister was/still is a picky eater).  We called it "special" applesauce and the reason it was special is my mom added vanilla extract to the jar of Mott's.    It is so good...and whenever I have special applesauce it reminds me of my childhood.  It also reminds my mom of her childhood, my grandma used to make it that way for her and my grandma's mom would make it that way for her!   I love special recipes such as these that are passed down and loved by generations.  So, for my grandma's birthday last week I decided to make her homemade applesauce.  I've never made applesauce before but after doing some research, it didn't seem to hard, and apples are so good right now!! 

I went to Sandusky's local farm stand, Mulvin's and asked Mrs. Mulvin how she makes her applesauce and what kind of apples she recommends.  She recommended the Macintosh apples and she advised only using one type so you get the pure taste of the apple instead of a mixture.  Mrs. Mulvin and her husband have been farmers for their whole lives so I took her advice and bought about 15 gorgeous Macintosh apples to make my applesauce.  

It turns out, making applesauce is super easy.. you basically peel all the apples (I used a paring knife and Ryan used a carrot peeler), core and cut all the apples and put them in a large sauce pan.  I added about a 1/4 cup of sugar and about 1 1/2  cups of water, a pinch of salt and 3 lemon rinds (I read it brings out the flavor of the apples) to the pot and let the apples cook on medium/high heat.  The apples cooked for about 15-20 minutes while I stirred them occasionally.  Once it seems the apples were soft, I took a large slotted spoon and smashed the apple slices against the side of the pan to make it saucier but still a bit chunky (the way my grandma  prefers it).  In a lot of recipes it said to use a food mill or a food processor, but I found my slotted spoon method to be very effective and I didn't have to dirty another dish.  The applesauce turned out awesome! It was very simple and clean-tasting, it wasn't super sweet and you could really just taste the sweet/slightly tart flavor of the Macintosh apples.  Eating warm applesauce is also a treat! It would be perfect spooned over a scoop of vanilla ice cream..

My only goof was I forgot the vanilla!  I've always seen the vanilla added at the end once the applesauce was already prepared (after we poured it out of the Mott's jar) so I didn't know to put the vanilla in during the cooking process...Duh!   In the end I decided to leave out the vanilla and it still got glowing reviews from my family and the birthday girl.  :)

The next batch a make I'm going to use the vanilla.  

Apples are in season right now so it's a great way to try new apple recipes and new apple types. 

I'm currently OBSESSED with Honeycrisp apples.  They are similar to a Fuji in that they are tart and sweet and they are always really crunchy.  I seriously am eating at least 2 a day, sometimes 3.  They are so good.   What is your favorite kind of apple?