The toils of December and a dish for Marta's table of the month


I always know December's gonna be a busy month. I always convince myself, right at the beggining of this month, that I'm gonna have plenty of time to do all I wanna do - and it's always sooo much! - during it's thirty one days. Obviously, it never happens. Marta from the blog Intrusa na Cozinha chose the humble cabbage - any kind of cabbage, she said! - for this month's ingredient, and I was jumping in my socks because I darn well LOVE cabbages. I had like a million ideas for recipes in my head, some old and trusted classics, some new inventions of mine. They were all good, and one of them is even gonna be cooked tonight for dinner. Another one we served as a side dish on Christmas Eve. None of these are gonna hit the blog, though. I just didn't have time to style and photograph, let alone cook the others I had in mind.


December's been crazy, man. It's one of those times when you know you're gonna spenda more of your time hopping around spending time with friends and family, and spending time with your kids, if you have them, once they begin their school breaks. You end up cramming a lot into your plate and sometimes nothing seems to get done. I bit off a bit more than I should, I guess, what with wanting to post ideas for homemade gifts here at the blog, and wanting to participate in stuff I don't usually do, like Lia's and Susana's Sweet World Challenge or Ana's Bake Off, as well as my usual pitch for Marta's Ingredient of the Month. I also wanted to post some of my usual staples, like cakes that scream of Christmas or bread - I always post bread recipes, what a weirdo!! All the while working on the publishing and marketing of my latest novel and trying to format and page my previous one for a print on demand paperback version. Obviously, somethings gotta give.


It happened to be the cabbages. But because I'm stubborn as an old mule, and because I had this and another one cooked, styled and photographed by the beggining of the month, I am still posting them on time. Yay for me, in the end I managed to do quite a lot of what I had set out to do right at the start! This dish is one that I remember from my childhood, but done differently, of course. It was one of my favourite dishes, and such a treat everytime my parents cooked it, which wasn't often. I was always happy whenever they said we were going to have this for dinner, usually on a Sunday night. It's sausages and savoy cabbages, as I have mentioned previously on this blog. My parents did it differently, they took some leaves out of the cabbage, dipped them in boiling water and wrapped them around whole sausages, which were then placed in a pan with onion, garlic, tomatoes and water, left to stew away until ready. They served it with white, fluffy rice and my sister and I would simply gobble away with happy smiles.


I haven't wrapped the sausages in the cabbage leaves for ages, really, I have rather resorted to a deconstructed version of my parents' dish. For it you need:
  • half a savoy cabage, cut into chunks or thin strips according to taste
  • one leek, sliced
  • two medium carrots, diced
  • a can of tomatoes
  • a scant cup of white wine
  • six medium sausages, cut into smallish chunks
  • salt, pepper, sage, thyme to season + a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
  • good olive oil
  • white rice as a side dish, or nothing at all.
Start by heating up a glug of olive oin in a large pan. Add the leek, the garlic and the carrots and let them sizzle away until they begin to caramelize slightly. Add the sausages and allow them to sweat a little. Now add the cabbage and stir it around so it begins to welt. Pour over the white wine, the can of tomatoes, the Worcestershire sauce, season with the salt, pepper and herbs, and reduce the heat. Placing a lid over the pan, allow to cook gently for about half an hour, checking in and stirring occasionaly. Once the cabbage is cooked through, turn of the heat, and keeping the lid on, allow to rest for five minutes. Serve on its own, with white rice or crusty bread, as you prefer it!!



Comments

  1. Olá minha doce bruxinha! :)
    minha querida desculpa só agora dizer alguma coisa, mas tive uns dias completamente afastada do blogue e da net em geral!
    Salsichas com couves é daquelas receitas que me despertam também memórias de infância... muitas mesmo! a minha mãe fazia imensas vezes! e eu adoro mesmo muito. O sabor da couve com a salsicha, e depois o molho em cima do arroz branco, é simplesmente maravilhoso!
    Obrigado minha querida por participares mais uma vez na rubrica. Sei como deve ter sido complicado... este mês foi talvez o mais complicado para mim em termos de ter tempo para o blog e para as coisas que queria fazer... mas às vezes temos mesmo de optar, e achei que a minha família merecia muito que eu estivesse este mês mais dedicada a eles. E soube-me muito bem!
    Beijinhos enormes minha querida
    Marta

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eu reparei q estavas completamente off the grid, e olha, fizeste tu senão bem!!! Pois eu pensava que este mês ia ser simples e depois dei por mim biting off more than I possibly could chew, mas até correu bem que eu p vezes funciono melhor assim, mesmo em cima do joelho lol!! Ainda bem que gostaste!

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