Braised Cabbage and Noodles

I had this bowling ball sized cabbage leftover from my share last week .  I found inspiration from two sites for this dish: Cabbage Recipes and Serious Eats.  The first has a great database of all types of things you can do with cabbage.  They are pretty old school ethnic recipes screaming for a second life.  And the later was a blogger recipe that was adapted from one of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks.  There are lots of cabbage and noodles casserole recipes out there and my husband recalled his Polish grandmother making something like this, but with a lot more butter!  So, again I give a healthy translation of a recipe with this one, that is delicious, flavorful and good for you!  This is a hearty main or a great side dish for a pork tenderloin. 

 

Braised Cabbage and Noodles

8 servings
Inspired by

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/01/bacon-braised-cabbage-recipe.html

2.5 lbs Organic Savoy, green cabbage (medium sized head)

2 links of spicy sausage, casings removed or 6 slices smoked bacon, preferably free-range or organic
4 cloves roasted garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 Bosc pears, sliced and roughly diced (you could use apples too)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Scant ¼ cup Marsala or Sherry cooking wine
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2T apple cider vinegar
2 pats butter
1 c organic chicken broth
1 chicken or vegetable bouillion cube diluted in 11/2 cups of boiling water
1 pkg of wide egg noodles
Salt and pepper
Fresh dill and thyme

1.  Strip the outside leaves off the cabbage and rinse the head. Cut the head in quarters  and slice finely. Place the sausage or bacon in a large sauce pan or dutch oven (has to be able to eventually hold all the cabbage) on a medium heat with a about 2 T of olive oil and stir around for a few minutes until perfectly crisp and golden, browned and cooked through. Remove sausage from pan and place on a plate lined with paper towel, set aside. 2.  Add to pan the onion, shallot, and garlic sauté over medium heat until the garlic melts down like butter into the onion and shallot.  Add the chopped pears and cooking wine.  After wine reduces, add the Worcestershire sauce, butter, and sliced cabbage. Stir well, and turn the heat up to high.Add the chicken broth liquids. Reduce heat to medium.  Place the lid on top and cook for 25  minutes, then remove the lid and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

3.  Boil water in a pot for your egg noodles.  When the water boils add 1 t of salt, add noodles and cook till al dente, do not overcook!  Drain pasta and reserve about a cup of the pasta water.  Return the pasta to the pot and add the pasta water and the reserved sausage, toss together.  Once the cabbage mixture is finished cooking, add it to the noodles and sausage, stir to combine all ingredients and add the fresh herbs.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The noodles may soak up a lot of the juices over time, especially leftovers.  You may have to drizzle with olive oil upon reheating.