"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax -
Of cabbages - and kings -
And why the sea is boiling hot -
And whether pigs have wings."
The "cabbages and kings" phrase popped into my head when I saw the size of the cabbages at the CSA pick-up - huge, enormous, bigger than my head. I knew the stanza from which it came, but what surprised me was realizing that whole poem is eighteen stanzas long, and the cabbages and kings one is number eleven. Why then is that one middle stanza so burned into my brain? Maybe just because it's pretty damned wonderful.
- Cabbage (1 enormous head)
- Red Russian Kale
- Broccoli Rabe
- Potatoes (6)
- Onions (2)
- Plum Tomatoes (quart)
- Salad Mix
- Parsley
Maybe it's the Irish peasant stock in me, but I'm looking forward to a batch of colcannon with the cabbage and potatoes. Colcannon is basically mashed potates with cooked cabbage (and/or kale) stirred in, but somewhere I have (or maybe my mother has) a recipe for colcannon with an unseemly amount of butter, thereby making a transcendent rendition of the peasant dish.
10 comments:
you amaze me. now come over and cook my beets.
Are you a Harriet the Spy fan? Because Harriet and Ole Golly recite that stanza to one another line by line in the middle of that book - I think that's why I remember it so well.
That's the one stanza I know, as well. I know it was printed on something I had as a child. Some sort of game (maybe a Trivial Pursuit box?).
First, Richard Russo...woot woot, love him!
Second, love that quote. Have it hanging on my wall. I cannot explain why.
Third, yum. Like that ingredient list, all the better for not including celery. Why does everything include celery?
Julie
Using My Words
Butter helps Ev.ry.thing.
My CSA has given us a cabbage every week since the middle of July. No kidding. One of these days I'll post all the things I've made from cabbage. (Including compost. Can't eat it all!) I did make colcannon, there was a recipe in cooking light. They cook the potatoes in broth then put the mixture in the blender, and then mix that with the cooked cabbage. Two batches came out great and two were inedible -- not sure what I did differently.
Like dawn224 said. Butter makes everything better.
I actually use shredded cabbage in place of rice noodles for pad thai and other stir fry ish noodle dishes.
I love the poem excerpt. I must have read it before, but am foggy on the details.
I've never had colcannon. I expect I'd like it, though.
(We're still getting quite a few tomatoes out my way. I think it was 6 pounds this week. On the up side, though, we are now getting arugula. Hurray, arugula!)
Nothing like a giant cabbage ot challenge a cook for diversity! I do lov'em, though!
I'm still loving your CSA bounty and all that you are doing with it.
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