Welcome back to Pimp Your Veg! I’m hoping to share more vegetable inspiration over the next few months, and I fully admit that although I cook vegetables every single day, I’m not necessarily the oracle for cooking vegetables, there are methods I don’t utilise, so I’ve asked my lovely, talented blog friend Sue to share some ideas from her kitchen, which is what we are bringing you today…and it looks fab, so I invite you to ‘steam, sear and slather’ with Sue…
“I am honored to assist my friend Elaine at Foodbod in her series entitled “Pimp Your Veg.”
Now is a particularly good time of year to embark on a vegetable journey, as many of us have probably partaken too much of starches, heavy foods, sweets and such over the recent holiday season, and so veg sounds good. And although vegetables sound good to me right now, I like a good cooked veg with lots of interesting texture and flavor, and not a raw veg for the most part. I like a salad with raw greens, but it’s got to also have a cooked element on top or mixed in, and also, please serve with a spoon! I do not like to stab leaves!
Elaine has covered some wonderful ground in the series so far, with ideas and recipes for roasting, pureeing, sauteeing, oven baking, fritterizing, spiralizing, and tucking into flatbreads. I’ve come up with an application for veg that works well non-delicate, non-leafy vegetables such as beets, turnips, rutabaga, cabbage, eggplant, squash, and also, provided you slice into thick “steaks”, cauliflower and broccoli. I’m naming it “Steam, Sear and Slather.” It even sounds Pimp-y, right?
Jokes aside, this is one of my favorite ways of preparing because you can prepare it partially, then refrigerate until later, and you can prepare a giant batch at once for eating during the week. It uses less oil than roasting vegetables (at least the way I roast vegetables, which is: I like to really lubricate them and then blast them on high heat to get a moist and chewy interior and a charred exterior) and creates a wonderful umami flavor. What you do is, you steam, you sear in olive oil or your preferred fat, and then you slather with your preferred sauce. Let’s see what this looks like with cabbage:
I started with half of a green and red head of cabbage:
Getting ready for the steamer:
Now for the sear. In they go again:
I used enough olive oil in the bottom of the pan to make a thin film, and seared each side for 2 minutes, on high heat for 1 minute and medium high for 1 minute.
Now for the slather. I like cabbage either with butter and salt, or with an aggressive anchovy/caper/parsley/garlic/olive oil type sauce. What I usually do, however, is simply use what I have on hand. That could be tomato sauce; lemon juice + garlic + olive oil; harissa thinned out with some yogurt; a curry; a satay-type sauce; chermoula; chimchirri, or pesto. The idea is to get some flavor onto the vegetables, and you can be as simple or complicated as you like. This past weekend I was out of capers and anchovies, but had some cherry tomatoes and some of Sonal’s beautiful curry powder, and some yogurt. I blackened the tomatoes in the broiler for a couple of minutes, with a tablespoon each of olive oil and curry powder, then blended the living daylights out of them with some added yogurt. Voila!
Now, you can either slather as above, or you can slather while cooking for a real pimpy, sticky, delicious mess:
After these cabbages cool down, I tuck them into the fridge and they keep very well for days.
You can eat them straight up, alongside a protein, atop a salad, dropped into some hot broth, on a plate alongside some hummus or dip, or:
Nothing better than a pimped veg on some homemade bread with a poached egg!
Happy New Year !
Sue”
I am bringing Sue’s lovely cabbage to the first Fiesta Friday of the year, #101, co hosted this week by the dynamic duo of Jhuls and Mr Fitz, come and join in!
I would also like to share this with two new link ups for me, Throwback Thursday, and also Cook Once Eat Twice from Searching for Spice – I hope it is well received 🙂
I love this!!!
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Yay!! Thank you 😉
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You’re welcome! I love cabbage! And the colors are absolutely perfect
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Sue takes amazing photos! They look wonderful don’t they?!
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Oh, I just posted a blog about Brussels sprouts and bacon skewers. If you love cabbage you got to check it out!!
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Nice! I’ll have a look 🙂
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Thank you!
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Ohhhh my god Elaine
Those steamed and seared and slathered cabbages look gorgeous❤️
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They do don’t they?
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😀
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Thanks Sonal I used your spice mix!
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😀
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now THAT really is pimping veg.. you have got me with this one Elaine! Thanks for brining it to Fiesta Friday 101!
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Cool! Enjoy your first co hosting 🙂
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Oh I have co-hosted before .. A couple of times x
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I thought so…where did I get myself confused?? Sorry about that!
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No worries! I was the first ever guest though.. Maybe it was that?
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Maybe!
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Thanks Fitz!
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Credit where credit is due!
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This is great and now has me thinking about “sauces”– what they could be. Including salad dressings±
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I think there’s endless possibilities for the sauces! I would consider tahini sauce, rose harissa or maybe chipotle en adobe 🙂
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Thank you!
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Yum!
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Oh that looks beautiful! Thanks for collaborating together and bringing this beauty here at the FF table. Happy weekend and enjoy the weekend! xx
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Thank you honey, I hope you are enjoying co hosting xx
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Thanks Jhuls!
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I love this method for cooking cabbage. I usually just steam it and put butter and s&p. Love the sear.
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Looks good doesn’t it? Sue is a star 🙂
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It looks delicious! You’re a star too!
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Thank you x
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Brilliant! I just happen to have some cabbage waiting for attention, sitting in my fridge right now! I’ll get right on to pimping it up! 😀
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Yay!!! Enjoy!
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Can’t wait to see!
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Yum love it!! I’ll definitely be trying this. xxx
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You’ll have to let me know how it turns out xx
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I will xx
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Super creative! Loved this! The last photo had me drooling here, wondering if there would be any chance I could have it from the screen to a plate in 5 nanoseconds! 😉
great post!
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Ha ha! How often do we wish we could download food from photos to our plates??? If only, hey….?!
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Haha! Thanks and glad you enjoyed!
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Brill Elaine! Love the different stages that the cabbage goes through, those photos would convince even a cabbage hater to LOVE cabbage….especially with that gorgeous egg. Great job Sue and YOU!
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Thank you, and I agree! Such a great way to pimp cabbage!
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Thank you Loretta!
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I thought I knew cabbages, but never encountered such an elegant version. This is a great winter treat. Thanks Sue and Elaine!
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I’m glad you like it, Hilda 🙂
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Aw thank you Hilda!
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Stunning! I’ve roasted slices of cabbage, but have never slathered them with anything interesting. Lots of excellent slathering suggestions here… thanks so much for sharing! ~Jean
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Hi Jean, I glad you like it – here’s to much slathering!
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Absolutely gorgeous and great idea to enjoy cabbage. Have a nice weekend! 🙂 xx
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Thank you, Linda, and you x x x
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Oh wow this looks an amazing Elaine…
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🙂
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What a great method – I have steamed veg a number of times but haven’t done the sear and slather part but it sounds fantastic. Especially for veg like cabbage that I otherwise find a bit tricky to use.
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I agree! I slather a lot, I add sauces to so much, but I’ve never tried Sue’s steam and sear method 🙂
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This looks so so tasty! I’ve never prepared cabbage like this before and I love all the ideas for dressings! I am doing my best to eat more vegetables this year so this definitely some thing I’ll have a go at. I have to admit I find steamed vegetables a little boring so it’s great that the cabbages are seared afterwards and then the sauce added. Thank you so much for linking up with #CookOnceEatTwice.
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Thank you Corina, I’ve got lots of dishes ready to link up, and all vegetable dishes! I admit I’m not a fan of just steaming vegetables, I think the addition of searing them sounds perfect to add that extra flavour 🙂
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This looks so delicious!! I’m not fond of steaming, so searing them sounds perfect for that bit of smokiness! Thank you Sue & Elaine 🙂 Happy FF!
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Thank you – I agree!
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This sounds really good and I am trying to use more veggies so I will try it! cabbage seems to be available all year which is nice! xx
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Indeed! I hope you like it x
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I need to look through your recipes and check out some more veggies, especially squash! That is also abundant now!
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Lovely! I love squash, I use it a lot! I’ve got some more squash recipes to share soon too 🙂
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ok good to know! 🙂
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Love the way cabbage picks up sweetness when it is browned, this looks delicious. I especially like it with an egg on crisp toast. Great idea.
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Caramelisation on vegetables is always a winner 🙂
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How beautiful! And I love the sauce ideas.
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🙂
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This is a fantastic collab! What a great method to serve vegetables, and definitely memorable (steam, sear and slather–haha!). The varying sauce ideas sound fantastic and really emphasize how versatile this method (and all the other veg-pimping methods) are!
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It is indeed!!! I’m glad you like it 🙂
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What a great way to jazz up cabbage, Im a bit of a cabbage/kale addict but I’ve actually never tried to steam them, guess I know what I will be eating tonight 🙂 Thank you 🙂
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Excellent, I hope you enjoy it xx
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What a unique way to do cabbage! I love that layer of searing. I would have only thought of searing Brussel sprouts, but not cabbage.
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It’s good isn’t it? A whole new way to pimp up cabbage!
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Love Sue, love you and love cabbage, this is wonderful and what a fantastic collaboration!!
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Yay!!! Thank you 🙂 x
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Suzanne! Love and cabbage to you!!!
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Superb collaboration, Elaine and Sue!
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Thank you x x x
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Thanks Patty! Nice to see you at it again too, even if I didn’t guilt you heavily enough into doing something ridiculous like souffles. I like the lasagne pasta better anyhow. More filling!
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You’re too funny, Sue. I asked for food ideas after that pasta post! And today I ordered new ramekins from Williams-Sonoma for my upcoming souffle experiment. Are you excited?? 😉
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No you’re wrong Patty!!!! Just kidding. Sorry I saw the question in IG where are you before I saw the post though
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Haha! Now let’s hope my souffles don’t fall! 😉
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I look forward to seeing them Patty!
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Love the idea of steaming and searing whole chunks of cabbage!
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Me too!
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Excellent! I needed some more inspiration for the giant purple cabbage I’ve been trying to use up! Maybe this will get the boys eating it too! 😛 Thank you! x x x
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Yay! Let us know xx
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Thumbs up from me! It was my dinner last night – red and savoy cabbage steamed, seared and slathered with homemade barbecue chilli sauce with a sprinkling of roasted chickpeas! Delicious! 🙂 Thanks to you both x
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Excellent!!!! I’m so pleased x
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Me too! 😛 x
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So glad you ended up trying it with your own twist of course. Thanks !
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Pingback: Steamed and Seared Cabbage | birgerbird
I was lured to the post by the title of this post! Very nicely done! Kudos to Sue and you.The cabbage looks delicious! I too love my veggies! A meal ain’t done if I don’t have a nice huge side of veggies!
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I absolutely agree!! Thank you 🙂
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Huge is the key word!
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Smashing!!!
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🙂
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Thank you!
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Elaine, who is this birgerbird person anyhow? What does she know about veg? 🙂 Thanks for asking me to guest post and looking forward to more collaboration in the future!!! xx
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I don’t know, she just rocked up with her huge wedges of cabbage and starting slathering!!!! 😉 Hee hee…and I’m very glad she did! xx
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