When the weather turns hot, Eric likes to serve food inspired by hot weather cuisines in his restaurants. One of his favorite hot weather cuisines is Middle Eastern. Unlike many hot-weather cuisines, Middle Eastern cooking pairs well with red wine, which is a boon for his red-wine loving customers.
Grilling wedges or individual leaves of lightly oiled and salted cabbage gives it a sweet and smoky flavor. You can chop grilled cabbage and mix it with other vegetables or serve it on its own. For purses of whole grilled cabbage leaves, grill the individual leaves until tender and use them as wrappers. You can stuff them with grilled vegetables, grains, or anything else that pleases you.
In the following coleslaw recipe, Eric uses grilled cabbage and adds a Middle Eastern twist. You can serve his coleslaw at room temperature or chilled.
In his upcoming new cookbook, “Farm, Fork, Food: A Year of Spectacular Recipes Inspired by Black Cat Farm,” Eric includes another recipe with grilled cabbage: Pork belly with yogurt, yellow split peas, and grilled cabbage. The cookbook will be published on October 7th and is now available for pre-order through: Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
1 medium cabbage, 1 lb
1 red onion, large
2 medium carrots, tops removed
Olive oil
Salt
1 tablespoon of tahini
1 cup salad oil
1 whole lemon
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1 large clove of garlic
Salt to taste
1. Wash, dry, and cut cabbage into thin wedges.
2. Toss the cabbage wedges with enough olive oil to lightly coat them. Lightly salt the wedges.
3. Grill cabbage until tender.
4. Chop cabbage into thin slices and set aside in a large bowl.
5. Thinly shave and salt the red onion. Set aside for 15 minutes.
6. Thoroughly rinse the onion slices and add to the chopped cabbage.
7. Peel and thinly shave the carrots. Add to the other vegetables.
8. Juice the lemon.
9. Mince the garlic clove.
10. In a medium-sized bowl, thoroughly combine the tahini, salad oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, and spices. Alternately, you can use a blender to make the dressing. Add salt to taste.
11. Add the dressing to the vegetables and mix well (Massage well to tenderize the cabbage.). Alternately, you can transfer the mixture to a stand mixer with a dough hook and mix for five minutes. Add salt to taste.
Photo by Jasmine & Roses under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.
