Cabbage, Kale, and Carrots - Oh My!

At long last, I've found my way back to Un Repas, to create a new (long-ish) post! In between studying for my finals next week, I decided to take a break and to utilize some of the great veggies delivered to me from Farm Fresh To You (my new favorite service!). 

Mid-morning revealed a beautiful day to prepare my first attempt at making sauerkraut. While chopping up my cabbage, I had a view of our newest members to our front yard family - a flock of goldfinches.  I discovered this was a lovely way to begin a cooking endeavor.

I decided to read over a couple of recipes for making sauerkraut and chose to wing it - using some oddly shaped carrots from my garden that I had plucked from the dirt last night and one of the red onions delivered from farm fresh.

I chose to use glass jars for the fermentation process - a google search indicated that others have been successful with glass - even though many others tend to use crocks or large plastic containers. Uncomfortable with plastic (toxic?) and not being in possession of a crock - glass jars it is! I've never attempted to ferment anything without a starter before, but my hubby has been keeping a jar of yeast dormant in the fridge for a while now - so I have at least seen it ferment freely and I now feel secure in giving it a go on my own. 

Tangentially, I enjoy listening to podcasts or audiobooks while preparing food - and today's listening included a segment on ancient shipwrecks from Stuff You Missed in History Class. Oddly enough, it had a great side-note that dealt with food. Turns out that there was a very famous fish sauce that well-to-do Romans loved to eat and was apparently worth a whole lot of money. This fish sauce, called garum, was the primary cargo in several of these sunken ships that were discussed in this segment. A little food history while preparing food is always welcome!

Anyway, I was pleased to find that there was a nice amount of water expelled from the cabbage while I mashed it down. I did have to add some salt water to the "jarred" cabbage just to make sure I was keeping as much oxygen away from the cabbage, carrots, and onions as possible. People recommend using a plastic bag full of water to help weigh down the mixture - but again, wary of the plastic off-gassing into my food - I found two small glass jars that fit inside of the larger jars I used to ferment my cabbage, filled them with water (to make them sink below the water line) and lo and behold, they worked perfectly!

can you see the other glass jars inside
that are weighing down the ingredients?

I'm going to keep my eye on the process of fermentation as the days go on - I hope to hold out for at least a week of fermentation before I give it a taste. Wish me luck!

*Late Afternoon/Early Evening Update

Somehow, I managed to get a good deal of studying completed in addition to a fair amount of food preparation! I finished off the cabbage and carrots with a batch of cole slaw - super tasty with veganaise, vinegar, sugar and toasted sesame seeds. Yum! 

serving of cole slaw

kale, chard, onions and pine nuts
(shallot-potato mash in the background)

Then, I made a really good dinner (and future take to work/school lunch) with the remaining kale and chard (also delivered by Farm Fresh To You). I used my  homemade preserved mushrooms (a wonderful oil, thyme, lemon-y concoction from my favorite food book of all time) to saute the greens along with white onions and toasted sesame. I also roasted shallots in oil and added them to freshly-mashed potatoes. Let me just say - this is a very satisfying meal. I strongly recommend having a large container full of marinated oil to use with sauteing greens - it is so flavorful and is great as an addition to so many things!