This Tyrolean savoy cabbage recipe may strike you as rather Germanic, and you'd not be far off: Up until World War I the northern half of the Val D'Adige was an Austrian province. The victorious Italians annexed everything up to the Passo del Brennero to obtain a defensible border. Returning to the recipe, it's quite easy to do and quite nice too. To serve 4:
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) Savoy cabbage
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 onions, finely sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (in the past they would have used more butter or lard)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- The needles of an 8-inch (20 cm) sprig rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 3 leaves fresh sage, or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
- 2 cups (500 ml) vegetable broth or unsalted bouillon (canned will be fine), heated
- A pinch of fennel seeds, crushed
- 1 cup (250 ml) dry white wine, heated
- A small bunch parsley, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Free the cabbage leaves from the head, rinse them, drain them, and coarsely shred them. Peel and slice the onions. Mince the garlic, rosemary needles, and sage leaves, and mix well. Mince the parsley separately and set it aside.
Heat the butter and the oil in a pot large enough to contain the cabbage leaves, and add the garlic mixture and the onions. Cook, stirring, until the onions are well wilted and beginning to color. Add the cabbage leaves and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 10 more minutes.
Sprinkle the wine and bouillon into the pot, and add the fennel seeds, salt to taste, and a nice grind of pepper. Mix well, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the cabbage for about an hour. Come serving time, transfer the cooked cabbage to a heated bowl, garnish it with the parsley, and serve at once. This will work well either as a side dish with a roast or stew, or with polenta, in a vegetarian meal.
Note: The Veneto, which was also an Austrian province until the Unification of Italy in the 1850s, has a similar dish called Verze Sofegae, Suffocated Verze, in which the onions are sauteed with diced pancetta (no herbs) and only broth is added; no wine.
Yield: 4 servings Tyrolean savoy cabbage.
Sprinkle the wine and bouillon into the pot, and add the fennel seeds, salt to taste, and a nice grind of pepper. Mix well, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the cabbage for about an hour. Come serving time, transfer the cooked cabbage to a heated bowl, garnish it with the parsley, and serve at once. This will work well either as a side dish with a roast or stew, or with polenta, in a vegetarian meal.
Note: The Veneto, which was also an Austrian province until the Unification of Italy in the 1850s, has a similar dish called Verze Sofegae, Suffocated Verze, in which the onions are sauteed with diced pancetta (no herbs) and only broth is added; no wine.
Yield: 4 servings Tyrolean savoy cabbage.
