I recently joined The Ugly Fruit & Vegetable Club, where they send you a box of random produce that is perfectly edible, but not pretty enough to display in a store. Yesterday my box contained, among other things, an enormous bunch of cilantro & 2 huge heads of Napa cabbage. I wish I had a pet rabbit, but since I dont, what the heck can I do with it?
Why, you can make or a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl…
Not a big fan of cilantro, but Napa cabbage goes great in stews and stir fries.
In other words… what typically comes out of my backyard garden
Can’t stand cilantro, although I’ve heard it’s a common seasoning in Mexican cooking and others.
Nappa, though - as noted, great in stir fries, stews, soups, pickled (a common component of kim chee), and you could probably use it in cole slaw or as a wrap, basically, stuffed cabbage. It’s a cultivar of Brassica. In other words… it’s cabbage. Just shaped differently than the round Brassica oleracea. They’re close cousins.
One of my favorite Thai quick soups.
Take a handful of ground pork (or start with some lean pork like the Thai do), chop it up with a garlic clove or two and pinch into loose balls into boiling water. Add soy sauce to taste, cook the pork until done (very short time) and add coarsely chopped Napa. When wilted, add cilantro and serve.
Dennis
That club certainly has very convincing testimonials:
“”…I’ve never seen a sweet potato the size of my head!!"
:eek: