Cabbage is cool

I honestly had no idea, prior to my one and only experiment with cabbage (see Molly Stevens' best-ever braised cabbage) how dirt cheap it was. It seems ridiculous to me that such a beautiful, dense, round vegetable (in so very many hues!) could possible cost like a buck. A cabbage weights about two pounds! Shouldn't it cost more than that!?

Apparently not. I guess that's just the way it goes.

Anyway, I've gone and made another cabbage recipe (it's kind of a two-for-one, actually), and damn, baby, but it's good. So one of the food bloggers I have come to adore (come to think of it, I'll have to add her blog to my roll) is Luisa of the Wednesday Chef. In addition to being gorgeous and exotic, she's running two for two on recipe successes so far.

She also appears to have a thing for cabbages.

So this recipe that I followed actually seems to be two. I wasn't so very wowed by the first one (perhaps being such a cabbage neophyte) and didn't actually even really eat it, since the visions I had dancing in my head of the second part were what was really prodding me on.

And man, was it worth it. Mine was less photogenic than hers (which isn't that photogenic at all), because I went and bought two (TWO!) heads of cabbage, one red and one green. So I wanted to use half of each. And did. And so my dish is grey, and yet still managed to blow my mind, which seems explanation enough of how utterly delicious it is.

It's creamy and rich and cabbagey. This seems almost impossible to me, since I don't necessarily associate cabbages with anything at all, let alone creaminess. But damn, baby. Damn, baby. I think I'm going to whip up another batch just as soon as this one is done.

Plus, Luisa attributes the recipe to Marcella Hazen, who appears to be an icon whose name has not entered my lexicon. I will be making her acquaintance.

Anyway, in a nutshell, this is the recipe.

Part un:

1 cabbage, finely chopped (or not so finely, I suppose)
1 onion, chopped (to your own preference)
Olive oil (Luisa says 1/4 cup, but I might have used less)
Garlic (I always err on the side of excess with garlic, so I added three large cloves, minced)
s, p, wine vinegar (I misread this and used white vinegar - might be why my original recipe was so boring?)

So basically sauté the aromatics in the oil, add the cabbage, toss, add the s, p and vinegar. Lower heat to medium and cover, 1.5 hours or so. This is the dish I didn't eat, but you might really like it, so go nuts.

Part deux:

Take that other batch out of the fridge
Heat some beef stock (Luisa has you dilute it if it's store-bought, but I don't know how necessary that is. See for yourself.)
Add the cabbage.

When it starts bubbling, add 2/3 CUP ARBORIO RICE. (I used this kind, but you know, basically any kind would work, I imagine. I've got some fancy-ass mixed rice thingy that I'll try next time. I'll report back.)
Let this simmer steadily until the rice is done. Mine took about 15 min.

Now for the kicker (and the reason why this recipe rules). Add 2 TBSP BUTTER and a THIRD OF A CUP OF PARMESAN (or some delicious, hard, Italian cheese). Mix this in. Add s and p, as needed. Then dish it out, let it rest a minute, and dig in.

You'll thank me.