[Sca-cooks] Cabbage recipe

[nickiandme at att.net]

PARA RELLENAR LAS OJAS DE LAS BERZAS, 
O REPOLLO DE UNA COMPOSICION LLAMADA NOGADA 
To Stuff the Leaves of the Cabbage, 
or Round Cabbage with a Composition Called Nogada [walnut sauce] 

Source: _Libro del Arte de Cozina_, Diego Granado, 1599 

Translation: Lady Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann) 

Take large cabbage leaves of those which have the big, wide stalk, and remove 
that stalk from them, and wither the leaves with hot water, and put one leaf on 
top of another, which will be three in all, sprinkled with cheese, and have 
prepared a composition of walnuts pounded in the mortar with a few peeled 
almonds, and a point of garlic, and a crustless bread soaked in broth, and all 
being well soaked, add mint and marjoram, and chopped parsley, pepper, cinnamon, 
and saffron, a good quantity, and raw eggs, and raisins, and put the composition 
on the last leaf and wrap it in the other two leaves, and fasten it, and make it 
in the form of a ball, and cook it with fatty meat broth with stuffing, and 
being cooked remove it from the broth, detach the thread and serve it with the 
stuffing. 


2 heads of Savory Cabbage (could have been Savoy - but someone wrote savory on the sign) 
1 pound of walnuts (coarsely ground) 
6 ounces of sliced almonds 
8 ounces of fresh grated parmasan cheese 
several cloves of garlic – chopped finely 
1 cup of bread crumbs 
1 / 4 cup vegetable broth 
1 tsp finely chopped mint (or to taste) 
1 tsp finely chopped marjoram (or to taste) 
2 tsp finely chopped parsley (or to taste) 
1/8 tsp pepper (or to taste) 
1/8 tsp cinnamon (or to taste) 
2 pinches strands of saffron (enough to color the mixture yellow) 
2 eggs 
1 / 2 cup currants 
2 cups of vegetable broth 

Mix walnuts, almonds, cheese, garlic, mint, marjoram, parsley, pepper, saffron and cinnamon together. 
Mix bread crumbs and 1/4 cup broth together until smooth. 
Put both mixtures together and add eggs and raisins. 
Mix thoroughly. 
This should hold together when squeezed in the hand. Separate the leaves of the cabbage and wilt in hot water. 
Add 1/4 cup mixture to the center of the top layer. Wrap. Wrap the additional layers around that. 
Tie with string. 
Heated in Crock pot for several hours before serving. 
Remove string just before serving. 

Changes/experimentation for future reference: 
- Try with fresh grapevine leaves, preserved grapevine leaves, different cabbage types. Because the cabbage leaves I used were very very tough, even after simmering for several hours. 
- Add more eggs. The mixture remained crumbly after cooking so it made serving smaller mouthfuls extremely difficult. 
- Grind and then heat up the saffron in the broth before adding it to the stuffing mixture. Adding the strands alone didn't give it much color. (I knew I should do this - I just got in to big a hurry and was distracted.) 
- Make it with beef or chicken broth instead of vegetable broth to add more flavor. 
- Also, might try to add just a bit more fat to the broth. I think the additional fat would have brought out the flavors more. 

Notes: This is best made and then served in a single day. Cuz of time/travel considerations I had to make these on Friday night and then partially cook and then reheat/finish cooking on Saturday at the event. The flavors on Friday night for the stuffing was just absolutely incredible, awesome cuz I just wanted to eat the stuffing all by itself. Saturday, although people liked it - I just couldn't care for it as much because the flavors had mellowed out a bit. I knew it had been much better the night before. 

This single recipe batch could easily serve 25 to 30 people at one roll each. 

It would be interesting to try this as a pottage - ie: chop up the cabbage into small bits, and mix in the broth and stuffing and heat up to serve. 

Kateryn de Develyn
Barony of Coeur d'Ennui
Kingdom of Calontir