Help me eat more brassicas!

[puglogic]

What are your favorite recipes (if you have any) for these kinds of foods:
broccoli
cauliflower
red cabbage
green cabbage
rapini/broccoli raab
collard greens
brussels sprouts

?

I'd like to get more into my diet, but my collection of tried-n-true recipes for these kinds of things is pretty small. Thanks!

[pinkytoe]

Cold, marinated salad with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red bell peppers, onions and whatever else you like that's crunchy. I drop the cut up broc and caul in boiling water for 30 seconds and then dump in ice water to retain color. Once drained, I add the other raw veggies and add homemade vinaigrette. Keeps in the fridge for a few days.
Curried cauliflower usually with potatoes for which there are many recipes online.
red cabbage slaw to put on smoked taco meats, usually fish. It is just basic shredded cabbage, red and green, mixed with vinaigrette and a few drops of Tabasco for heat. Lots of chopped cilantro.
For the green cabbage, you can look up Portuguese soup recipes which consists of beans, potatos, cabbage and sausage. If you are veg,you can just add liquid smoke instead to add that flavor.
With collard greens, we usually saute them in oil and douse with balsamic vinegar at the table.
Brussel sprouts - I am still looking for a recipe for that for a Thanksgiving side.

[nswef]

I make a dijon mustard/ worcestershire sauce for cooked, buttered brussel sprouts. It makes them quite tasty. Just mix the two- more mustard than worcestershire . Just to taste, stir it on them when they come out of the microwave.

Cabbage I just cut thin, add mayonnaise and eat like a salad, or cook with a little water in the microwave, drain and add butter, salt and pepper. My husband used bleu chees dressing on his.

We go to a restaurant that has fried, caramelized brussel sprouts that are heavenly. They shred them and I think fry them in butter. I do love butter!

[iris lilies]

I love brassicas so much! But poor DH, they make him gag when cooked although he eats them raw.

The caramelized Brussels sprouts in restaurants are heavenly.

I make stir fry a lot using opnions, cabbage, carrots. I put hot sauce with it, sometimes a little cheese.

[JaneV2.0]

Grated cauliflower--or chop it into fine mince--and use it like rice. Or cook it 'til it's soft and mash like potatoes, adding cream cheese, or cream. Roast it or make into patties and fry. Substitute cauliflower cooked al dente for potatoes in potato salad.

Saute' cabbage in butter until lightly browned and tender. Serve as a side, or with breakfast.

Collard and other greens are excellent in soups.

Broccoli can be blanched and used in salads. Or cut into florets and use in stir-fry. (Cabbage is also excellent in stir-fries.)

[Tiam]

I love brassicas. I love them roasted in the oven. Cheesey Cauliflower, cauliflower and potatoes(mashed or roated). Raw. In stirfries. Cabbage cooked is wonderful in soups, stir fries, fried rice. Raw for taco topping with lime and cilantro. shredded fine and put into spring rolls, egg rolls. This one healthy food I have no trouble eating lots of.

[JaneV2.0]

Cabbage rolls.

[Rogar]

My list is fairly short, too, but all of them go well in stir fry. Personally, I would put any of them in an omelet and just about anything green in a smoothie.

Cheesy broccoli and cauliflower soup is one of my favorites. It tends not to freeze very well, so I don't have it all that often. My standard for brussel spouts is roasted, with bacon bits if I feel like splurging. It's very easy. Red cabbage goes well with apples, but I've never hit one the right way to prepare it. My next try will be braised with some light sour cream added at the end of cooking.

[SteveinMN]

Like Tiam said, roast them. In my book, roasting is the bomb for pretty much anything that can take that much fire. :)

Other things we do:
- use finely-shredded cabbage as we would lettuce for burgers, tacos, chicken salad sandwiches, whatever.
- steam and then spritz with lemon juice and minced garlic.
- use less-traditional brassicas for salads and slaws. Nothing says a slaw has to be cabbage. It could be thin-sliced broccoli/cauliflower stems or brussels sprouts.
- substitute related brassicas for the original. For example, I once made cabbage rolls with Nappa cabbage. The bonus was that the rolls could not be stuffed so much with the filling, so it was either eat less filling or eat more cabbage as a carrier. Either way, you're a winner.
- braise them in coconut milk.
- cabbage soup (maybe add some kielbasa/sausage or chicken if you can).
- make chips from kale or chard by tearing the leaves into bite-sized pieces, spraying with olive oil, sprinkling with salt or garlic powder, and roasting. Even people who don't like kale's strong taste snarf these up.

[KayLR]

Our favorite way with Cauliflower:
In a nonstick pan, heat some olive oil (2T) with some red pepper flakes (oh, say, 1tsp) until fragrant. Add at least a half a head of cauliflower florets and saute until the florets are browning. Add 3-4 cloves of minced garlic and saute a bit longer. Add a can of diced tomatoes, close the lid and cook until the cauliflower is al dente.

[Blackdog Lin]

The temperature is s'posed to drop tonight 30 degrees, our first "arctic blast", so am planning a minestrone chock full of cabbage, celery, carrots, onions and spinach. One of our favorites.

Here is DH's favorite Brussels sprouts recipe.

Garlic Brussels Sprouts

1 lb. fresh Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbs. butter, divided
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 c. chicken broth
salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil and 1 tbs. butter and sauté garlic 1-2 minutes. Add sprouts and toss to coat. Add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat 12-14 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and toss w/remaining 2 tbs. butter.

[Tussiemussies]

Hi pug,

My husband made this recipe with Brussels sprouts, apples, onions and toasted pecans this weekend and it was fantastic!
Here is the recipe:


http://www.texannewyorker.com/2012/11/05/roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-apples-onion-and-candied-pecans/

[redfox]

Cauliflower roasted. Yummm! Also, used in curry.

Brussels sprouts: halved the long way, sautéed in a heavy oven ready skillet in olive oil & garlic, flat side down. When they brown & start to pop over, put them a 450 degree oven, in none skillet, and blast them for 5 mins till soft & seared. Amazing.

Broccoli: cut up into small spears, and toss into pasta just as it's done cooking. Simmer for a few minutes, then toss with sauce.

Cabbage: purple cabbage shredded and added to stir fry. Organic is much sweeter than conventional.

[lhamo]

Roasted, roasted, roasted -- can't get enough of roasted cauliflower/broccoli/brussel sprouts. I can't wait to get back to the US for Christmas because brussel sprouts here are ridiculously expensive I can't justify buying them regularly.

Cauliflower is awesome with zataar seasoning (a middle east spice mix) -- I like red zataar best, but green is pretty good, too.

We also make it regularly with just olive oil, salt, and some lemon pepper. The lemon pepper gives it a nice tang.

Make a huge batch of either cauliflower or broccoli and use the leftovers in soups or fritattas.

Yum! I think I'll make some this weekend...

[puglogic]

I think I'm going to have to try every single one of these suggestions. Research, y'know ;)

I have a red cabbage slaw recipe that I adore, but I am trying to cut down on dairy. The full recipe is this:

1/4 large head red cabbage, cored and shredded
1 to 2 ounces gorgonzola or other blue cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil + 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, whisked together
Salt and black pepper

So good it's amazing.....seriously, if you like red cabbage, try it. But what could I substitute for the blue cheese? Something creamy like that....avocado maybe?

[JaneV2.0]

Sauerkraut, kimchee, fermented brassicas in general.

[SteveinMN]

puglogic, I would either go with a tofu-based cream cheese for the fat/mouthfeel and some lemon juice to provide the tang, or just dispense with the cheese and use the lemon juice. You're already getting some extra texture from the nuts and raisins.

[kib]

I often use cabbage - raw, chopped and then just lightly warmed - as an extender in a dish of small pasta or rice, it mixes in there and adds some healthy low-cal bulk to almost any "over-rice" dish. Example, we had chili over rice last night, but mine was more of a cabbage chili salad with a quarter cup of rice tossed in. Because I love rice, Jane, that's why. ;-)

I will throw cauliflower in the oven in a casserole with a bit of water and steam/roast it if I have the oven on anyway, then drain it and mash it with cream, butter, cheese and any other decadent thing I can think of.

[IshbelRobertson]

clean and slice Brussels. Fry off some lardons in a saucepan, then cook the sliced sprouts in the fat. Add some toasted, flaked almonds.

This is a staple for Christmas dinner!

[JaneV2.0]

... Because I love rice, Jane, that's why. ;-)

I have rice noodles occasionally, but I'm pretty much off wheat. Just for the record.