cabbage

Creamed cabbage. Oh dear.

It doesn't sound particularly exciting ... and especially not around here, as EuroCuisineGuy has been at war with the entire Brassica family from a very young age. And not just the cabbage side of the family, either. ECG isn't even wild about mustard, and when he was astonishingly spotted eating the (admittedly wonderful) sesame-oiled flash-grilled cauliflower at Deane's in Belfast, his profoundly skeptical mother suggested that the BBC (just around the corner) should have been asked to send in a camera crew for verification purposes.

In retrospect, this was understandable. Way too much overboiled big-head cabbage, way too many school lunches where the air was full of the persistent reek of broken cabbage-y sulfur bonds, have turned EuroCuisineGuy into one of the many who leave the room muttering when the word "cabbage" is mentioned.

But not today.

During a shopping trip meant to prepare for a picture-taking session involving côtelettes de porc a la Flamande, EuroCuisineLady more or less accidentally acquired a small and handsome young cabbage labeled "Sweet Heart", grown in Spain. A little searching reveals that this is a newish cabbage variety; "sweethearts" are also called pointed cabbage, hearted cabbage, Duchy cabbage, and hispi. Anyway, the cabbage came home, and became part of this recipe adapted from one in van Waerebeek's Everybody Eats Well in Belgium.

The recipe involves shredding or finely chopping the cabbage, boiling it for exactly three minutes, draining it, spreading it into a buttered casserole, pouring cream over it, grinding over it fresh nutmeg and black pepper, and baking it for fifteen minutes. Any recipe that simple already has a lot going for it.

EuroCuisineLady proceeded stealthily, doing the slicing and brief cabbage-boiling without saying anything to EuroCuisineGuy about what she was doing until the dish was in the oven. "Smells good," she said. EuroCuisineGuy, amazingly, agreed.

This was encouraging. The casserole came out of the oven, and looked and smelled terrific. It was sampled, found super, then dished out and photographed. And then, "What do you think it is?" said EuroCuisineLady.

EuroCuisineGuy (who was upstairs at the time) said he didn't know. EuroCuisineLady told him. EuroCuisineGuy was very surprised. And then -- encouraged to eat it -- he did. And he liked it. Cries of "Hey Mikey!" filled the air, and these had to be explained to ECG, as he has never seen a Quaker Life commercial.

No matter. If you are acquainted with a cabbage hater, this is the recipe to try. Among cabbage recipes, it is a veritable Rolls-Royce.

Click "read more" for the recipe.

Ask someone -- especially a North American -- who hasn’t lived or visited here about what Irish food is like, and nine times out of ten, as they grope for answers, they’ll mention corned beef and cabbage.