Cabbage and Bows

When I was little, I HATED cabbage. That didn’t stop my mother from putting it in quite a few meals. We often ate kielbasa, cabbage, and potatoes on the grill in the summer. And then there was sauerkraut and pork (BLEH), and stuffed cabbage, or halupki as it was known in our house. I can remember the very smell of some of these dishes making me want to run for the hills. Sorry, mom!

I really can’t remember when I started to like it, but now I can’t get enough cabbage, pickled, in salads, coleslaws, braised, and all other forms. One of my favorite things about visiting Prague last winter was that there was cabbage with every meal.

The other night, still feeling awful and unable to cook or eat much, I returned to my childhood for a simple, comforting meal, cabbage and bows. I have included a real recipe at the end of the post, but I just winged it, remembering flavors over measurements.

I started with about half of a sweet Vidalia onion, chopping it into thin pieces. The onion should cook down quite a bit, so you can feel free to make it as small as you like.

My childhood cabbage and bows was made with green cabbage, but I had a purple cabbage on hand, so that is what I used.

I roughly chopped up about a cup of cabbage for the pasta and ate about half a cup while chopping. Raw purple cabbage is so good!

The chopped onion and cabbage get added to a generous amount of butter, Kerrygold for me, enough to coat the bottom of a frying pan. You could use something lower in fat like a butter substitute, but I wouldn’t. Butter gives this dish flavor, and it is comfort food after all!

Back in the day, cabbage and bows was made with bowtie pasta. I also didn’t have that stocked in the cabinet, but I did have some whole wheat rotini which worked just fine.

While the pasta cooked, I cooked the cabbage and onions down in the butter until they were nice and soft. I mixed the cabbage, onions, and butter with the finished pasta, added salt and pepper, and climbed under a pile of blankets to get some much-needed comfort.

Do not, I repeat, do not get sick. I take pretty good care of myself, but I think I let some of the stress of all of the changes and wondering in my life right now get to me big time. 

The last time I left my house, other than to go to the doctor on Thursday, was last Tuesday. Help!

Do you have a food or foods from your childhood that you hated then and love now?