Hungarian Cabbage Noodles

 

I've been talking about my Hungarian Cabbage noodles on Twitter, and on Foodbuzz several days ago, when I decided to make this. Bought a beautiful perfect head of cabbage, but I had so many other things that was in my refrigerator that I had to deal with, that I kept procrastinating with one excuse, after another. First, I kept saying to myself that I have to make home made noodles for this, second, it will take too long to make...yes, this one is true. You literally have to stand in front of the stove for at least 45 minutes, longer than making a risotto, third, I will really have to make this from memory, because the original recipe has way too much salt, and cooking with lard, is cholesterol "overkill." Actually, I have a 5th excuse too. All the other recipes found on the Internet are not the way I want to make it, and NO, I don't want to add poppy seed to my cabbage, as I saw one recipe out there, call for it. My 1963 Hungarian cookbook which I have inherited from my aunt Mariska, is a good source, which I am grateful that I can read it in Hungarian, but understanding the old European metric system is not going over too well for me. Although, I did figure how much 10dkg. of lard is; a whopping 2/3 cup! Wow!...and it goes on, and on with all the other recipes as well. Very short versions, no photos, you really have to know what you are doing, because they don't give you directions too well, or cooking time in most recipes. So here goes, I once again had to create my own, from memory, but without all the extra fat, and salt. Recipe will follow, along with photos.
 Hungarian Cabbage Noodles 
1 nice large head of green cabbage, grated, or hand sliced
1/2 a package of a (17oz) Flora fresh dried Pappardelle
or any other dry noodles
salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup pure vegetable oil
1 pat, ( a Tbsp) butter (opt.)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup cooking water saved, from the pasta

Halfway through the sauteing process

Grate, or slice finely with a good sharp knife, by cutting the cabbage in half, cutting out the cores, and discard the outer dark leaves. Cut cabbage into smaller wedges that can fit into the chute of a food processor, of slice the wedges into fairly thin slices. Heat oil in a large skillet and add the cabbage and chopped onion, directly into the skillet, Don't worry if it seems a lot, it will cook down, just have patience sauteing it, and slightly caramelizing it. Add salt, and pepper, start stirring, on med. high heat, and lowering heat, when it starts to get some color, and starts to get translucent, along with the onions. At this stage, you can add the sugar to start to caramelize. Don't leave it alone, you constantly have to stir, probably in all, about 45 minutes to an hour. No joke...unless you want to have a burned awful mess, because the sugar caramelizes quite fast, so at this point you have to lower the temperature to low. In the meantime, boil the noodles, or Pappardelle, and drain, saving at least 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Add the cooked pasta, right into the skillet, the 1 Tablespoon butter if you like, and add the reserved water, to loosen it. This will give it a nice body, and texture. Add more salt, and pepper to it, and serve. This is at least 4 servings, and very tasty, if you are a cabbage lover, like we are. Great, as a leftover to heat up, and serve as a side dish.

OK. have a little patience here, first things first. This little food processor, Emmie, from Hamilton Beach is from a well liked huge, commercial thrift store, other than Goodwill, which is my favorite nearby. This is from World Thrift, more expensive items, but great things to find. The only reason I wanted to use this is to grate the cabbage into the open Pyrex bowl, which also is a purchase from there. Unfortunately, I just realized at that moment, that it did not have a "feed tube" so I ruined a nice wooden spoon, when it got caught in the chute. The reason for that was, that the chute, was shooting all over the counter, by spinning around, and not into the bowl. Cabbage flying all over the place. I had a "Lucy" moment in my little kitchen, with wood chips from my favorite wooden spoon...sigh...Now, clean up time! Wasted 1/4 head of cabbage, and said "goodbye" to my wooden spoon.

A little nostalgia. I knew exactly where my Hungarian cookbook was, but I have not even glanced into it for several years. Why should I? I knew all my childhood favorite foods by heart, and could easily make them. I've been so busy working, that I never really gave this book a chance, and brush up on my Hungarian language. The title literally means, Chef book?!...Strange name, why not a Cookbook, or a name of the book, just simply, Chef book. I think the reason why, is because this is a Government printed book, and not by an individual. Correct me, if I'm mistaken.

Like I mentioned, I ended up slicing the cabbage with my trusty, Pure Komachi  high carbon stainless steele Japanese knife. This knife is a must for every one out there who like to slice and chop vegetables. Even if you don't, this knife glides through onion, tomatoes, because it's always sharp, and never needs sharpening. I've had mine for a year now, and so far, not once did I have to sharpen this little beauty. At first I hesitated to buy it, thinking it was all plastic, but trust me, only the handle is a non-skid plastic lined. You have to be real careful with this knife, it has a high carbon stainless steele blade, exactly what is called. Never rusts, and comes in happy colors, like turquoise and pink. I have given at least 3 of these for gifts to friends and family, and they love it! BTW...as you can see, the outer leaves of the cabbage is starting to turn a little brown, but after peeling away the green leaves, was the gem part of the cabbage. The knife is Not a thrift find, at a thrift store, but to me it was "thrifty" cost $16.99, and worth a lot more, as far as I'm concerned.