The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Make cabbage the centerpiece of your feast
Vegetable is good for more than just a side dish.
Cabbage could qualify as the perfect vegetable for a pandemic. Sturdy cabbage, whether green, red, savoy or napa, will keep in your refrigerator for weeks, ready at a moment’s notice to serve as a salad, cooked vegetable, or even main dish.
Mark Capps grew up in Loganville, the third generation of a family of farmers. He remembers eating cabbage in t wo traditional Southern sides: stewed cabbage cooked in butter, with plenty of black pepper, and in coleslaw. But, he said, cabbage is good for more than just serving as a side dish. “I know people make cabbage rolls and that kind of thing.”
Capps’ family has a long tradition of farming, with a dairy farm in Dekalb County and a vegetable farm in Gwinnett County, off Rosebud Road, many years ago. His great uncle, Woodrow Cheek, had 23 acres, and sold vegetables off his truck. His grandfather, Emmett Capps, was a gentleman farmer, with 4 acres, where he raised animals and vegetables in Loganville, just three houses down from where Capps now lives and farms.
“I remember my grandfather coming in from doing the detailed woodwork for the fancy Pullman train cars in Atlanta, putting on his overalls and hitting the garden until dark,” Capps said. “My dad learned from him, and would put on his overalls when he got in from work, and hit the garden. Dad had three different gardens on the family land, and that’s where I learned to garden.”
One of the things he planted as a child was cabbage. He still grows it, although now it’s for the customers of Straight From the Backyard Farm.
Capps didn’t set out to be a farmer. However, the family tradition was strong. And, his backyard garden, once meant to provide vegetables for him and his girlfriend, Lynn Teddlie, grew and expanded, until the couple began growing on 4 acres and selling the extra produce to local restaurants, as well as at farmers markets.
The pandemic has been tough on the restaurant business, but Capps said he appreciates that customers like the Chastain in Atlanta, and the Butcher the Baker and Crooked Tree Cafe in Marietta, bought from the farm throughout the season. His participation at farmers markets dropped down to just two, the Saturday Marietta Square Farmers Market and the Thursday online Tucker Farmers Market.
Through it all, Capps has continued to grow cabbage. Experience has taught him that growing napa cabbage in northeast Georgia is tough. Aphids love those fleshy leaves, and the loose structure of the heads means a frost easily can knock down the crop.
But bronco, a beautiful, green cabbage with firm round heads, has done well for him. “We like it, because we can space out the plants and grow heads as large as 7 or 8 pounds, or we can plant it closer, and get 2- or 3- pound heads,” he said. “We’ve found there’s not a big market here for those huge cabbage heads that are 10 to 15 pounds. Our farmers market customers really like those smaller heads.”
Speaking of really big cabbages, he noted that Alaska is a major grower, and “that’s where they can grow huge 100- pound heads of cabbage. Their growing season is only four months, but really long days make for perfect growing conditions.”
Capps grows red cabbage, too; his favorite variety is ruby perfection. Red cabbage takes much longer to grow, so usually is more expensive. “I can have heads of green cabbage in 65 days, but it takes red cabbage 120 days to grow to a similar size,” Capps said.
Also, red cabbage is a chameleon, changing color depending on what it’s cooked with. For a fun science experiment, drop some vinegar or lemon juice into the purple juice after boiling a red cabbage, and it will turn red. Drop in baking soda, and it will turn a bluish- green. Keep this in mind the next time you’re cooking red cabbage, and want to it to be a bright red color.
Capps also grows savoy king, perhaps the prettiest cabbage, with its beautifully textured, dark green outer leaves. It doesn’t make up a huge percentage of what he grows, but his customers love it when it comes to market. Like napa cabbage, though, the loose texture of the heads means it’s easily burned by frost. And, like napa, the bugs enjoy it as much as his customers do. Too long in the field, and the leaves start getting damaged and the head can begin to rot from the cold.
He has some cabbage available now, the last of his late- summer plantings. He started harvesting smaller heads around the first week of November, and now is selling red cabbage. “We’ll be putting in a spring crop soon,” he said, “and that cabbage should be ready the first of May. You could grow cabbage all year- round here, if the bugs didn’t destroy everything in the summer.”
The recipe says “phyllo,” but rather than a base made from thin sheets of phyllo, it is more like a whole- wheat bread dough. If you want to skip the dough- making step, the recipe’s creator, PBS cooking show host Diane Kochilas, said it’s OK to substitute phyllo dough. Use six sheets, placing them one at a time on the bottom of a tart pan, brushing each with olive oil. Add the filling and then roll the phyllo around the edges into a decorative border.
The combination of cabbage and onions is a classic pairing, and using red cabbage here makes for a very pretty main dish. If you use red onions, you just keep that beautiful purple color going. The dill and feta put this tart firmly into the world of Greek cooking. And, don’t skip the raisins; they add a nice sweet counterpoint to the savory ingredients.
If you don’t have a tart pan, a small sheet pan will work.
¾ cup bread flour, plus more as needed
¾ cup whole- wheat flour, plus more as needed
½ teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning onions and cabbage ½ cup water
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil, divided, plus more for oiling tart pan and dough
4 large red or yellow onions peeled, halved and thinly sliced ½ cup dry red wine, divided 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided 2 tablespoons honey, divided 3 cups coarsely shredded red cabbage
½ cup crumbled feta
¼ cup chopped fresh dill 3 tablespoons raisins
Make the dough: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour and ½ teaspoon of salt. Add water and ¼ cup olive oil and mix at mediumhigh speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed and beat for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the dough is very smooth. You may need to add a small amount of either bread or whole- wheat flour if the mixture is too wet.
Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a large bowl and swirl to coat the surface. Move the dough into an oiled bowl, cover and rest at least 1 hour, up to 5 hours. The dough also can be made ahead and refrigerated for 3 to 5 days. If refrigerated, bring to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
Make the filling: In a large skillet, heat ¼ cup olive oil over low heat. Add onions, and season lightly with salt. Cook on low heat until the onions are wilted and lightly caramelized, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add ¼ cup of wine, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of honey and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and do not wash the skillet.
In the same skillet, heat the remaining ¼ cup of olive oil and add the cabbage. Cook until the cabbage is wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ¼ cup of wine, remaining 1 tablespoon of balsamic and the remaining 1 tablespoon of honey, and season lightly with salt. Cook until the cabbage is soft and wilted, and all the liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cabbage and onions. Stir in the feta, dill and raisins. Taste for seasoning one last time.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 10- inch tart pan with olive oil.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough out to a 12- inch circle. Move to the prepared tart pan, leaving a 1- inch overhang all around. Brush the surface with olive oil and spread the filling evenly over the surface of the tart, then roll the overhang back over the tart to form a decorative edge. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the crust is crisp and golden brown. Cool slightly before serving.
Serves four.
Per serving: 736 calories ( percent of calories from fat, 59), 11 grams protein, 65 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 49 grams total fat ( 9 grams saturated), 17 milligrams cholesterol, 474 milligrams sodium. Adapted from a recipe by Diane Kochilas, host of “My Greek Table With Diane Kochilas,” distributed by American Public Television.