Corned Beef and Cabbage

I didn't do anything very fancy with this. I just boiled the corned beef, cooked the carrots and potatoes separately, and added the cabbage for the last 25 minutes--too long, but some people like soggy cabbage. It was flavorful and sort of homey and satisfying. I served horseradish and mustard with it. As usual, I mixed the horseradish with yogurt--it makes a perfect simple sauce.

I made Irish Soda Bread for the first time--I used the Joy of Cooking recipe--and we decided to have it for dessert because it was sweet. This version was a quick bread, sort of like banana bread with raisins instead of bananas. The traditional caraway seed made it interesting.

Picado de Repollo

I made this Cabbage Relish from my favorite Gabilondo Mexican Family Cooking to accompany a lunch burrito, and also because I had a half cabbage languishing in my vegetable bin. It is the perfect foil for Mexican food, and is supposed to ripen and keep well in the refrigerator--but I think we'll eat it all before that happens.

Picado de Repollo

1/2 cabbage

2 fresh jalapenos

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup white vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Fresh ground pepper

Grate the cabbage, jalapenos, and garlic in food processor. Toss with the remaining ingredients.

Caribbean Curry Goat

I'd never made Caribbean food before. But we picked up some local goat last week at the All-Local Farmers Market and I decided to make curry goat. I made some Jamaican-style cabbage to go with it.

It's a profound thing to produce certain flavors in your kitchen for the first time. I've eaten delicious Caribbean food at restaurants, but it was quite another thing to find out about the building blocks of that food, to put together a recipe that tasted Caribbean but also like something I'd made. And the house smelled good and strange for days.

Caribbean curry powder is somewhat different than Madras curry or the various generic things sold as curry powder. I used some plain curry powder but added habanero, chile powder, and star anise to produce the right flavor.

So here's the recipe I put together after some research and daydreaming. I will make it again. The goat was mild and tender but dark the way duck is dark, with that faint iron tang.

Curry Goat

• goat -- in this case 1 shank and about 1/2 pound of stew meat. Something with a bone and connective tissue is a good idea.
• 1-2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon plain chile powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Rub spices all over the goat and set aside.

• olive oil or butter for sauteeing
• 2 medium onions
• 5 cloves garlic

Brown the meat, being careful not to burn the spices. Remove, and saute the onion, then the garlic.

• several splashes vermouth, white wine, or beer
• one star anise pod
• water to cover

Deglaze the pan with the booze. Add meat and all other ingredients and simmer 1 hour. Remove the star anise if the stew is tasting too anise-y. Add:

• salt to taste
• one small fresh habanero, minced
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

Simmer until shank is tender and falling apart, 1-2 more hours. Correct flavor with lime juice if necessary. Serve over rice.

What will I do when habanero season is over?

Reading cabbage recipes was interesting. I would never have guessed that fresh thyme is such a common ingredient in Caribbean cooking. But it was exactly right. Adapting various recipes, I cut some wedges of fresh green cabbage (maybe 1/3 of a large head), sauteed a clove of garlic in butter, then added fresh thyme, several pinches of salt, the cabbage wedges, and 1/4 cup of water. I covered it and cooked it on low for an hour or so, sort of steaming the cabbage as the water simmered. It was like Southern greens in a way, very soft, but exactly like the delicious cabbage I had as a side dish at a Caribbean place in Charlotte a few weeks ago.