Cabbages and Bananas

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—"
--Through the Looking-Glass

Or how about cabbages and bananas—two red-letter foods for February?

In another one of my ancient cookbooks, The Cooking Calendar from Betty Crocker, the book is laid out in calendar style with foods that are at a peak for that month featured. February’s special foods are cabbages and bananas.

It is an ongoing theme of mine that seasonal, healthy foods are not necessarily expensive. In fact, they are usually at peak quality and reasonably cheap. Cabbages and bananas are always available and almost always inexpensive, but now is the time to get the best buys and the best quality. They are so common, however, that we sometimes forget to feature them in delicious, nutritious dishes—or we take them for granted and (so the saying goes) familiarity breeds contempt. For our special dishes we opt for out-of-season or exotic fruits and vegetables. I hope you will agree that today’s recipes are anything but ordinary.

There are a great many kinds of cabbage, but the most versatile and inexpensive is the domestic green variety. Choose a head that is well trimmed, heavy for its size and has no discolorations. It should look fresh, not coarse or puffy.

My late mother-in-law, Monika, came from Eastern Europe where cabbage rolls were as common as hamburgers are in America. She made a great stuffed cabbage dish, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the recipe. So I re-created it as best I can remember and, after a few tweaks, this comes very close.

Daughter-In-Law Cabbage Rolls

½ pound regular ground beef, not extra lean
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
½ cup chopped celery
2 cups beef stock (divided)
1 cup water
2/3 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or use a combination of oregano, basil and thyme)
½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
8 medium cabbage leaves
½ cup (2 ounces) shredded American or Cheddar cheese
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp butter
¼ cup shredded American cheese

In a large skillet cook meat, onion, green pepper and celery until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. Drain fat, if excessive. Stir in 1 cup beef stock, water, uncooked rice, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.

Trim cabbage and immerse leaves into large pot of boiling water for 3 minutes or until limp, being careful not to crowd the pot. Stir the cheese into the meat mixture. Spoon about 1/3 cup meat mixture on each cabbage leaf. Fold in sides and roll up each leaf, including folded sides in roll. For sauce: stir tomato sauce, remaining beef stock, sugar, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a bowl. Pour half of tomato mixture into 9 x 13 oblong baking dish, sprayed with vegetable spray. Arrange rolls on tomato mixture. Spoon remaining tomato sauce over cabbage rolls. Dot with butter. Cover and bake in 350 oven for 1 hour. Check to see if cabbage is tender and sauce bubbling. Dish may be baked for 15 minutes longer, if necessary. Sprinkle with ¼ cup cheese before serving.

This banana dessert is spectacular. It is even more spectacular if you’re able to serve it immediately out of the oven, as is the way of soufflés. Leftover sauce is absolutely marvelous over ice cream.

Banana Soufflé

¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
½ cup milk
3 eggs, divided
½ cup banana puree
1 ½ Tbsp. butter
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar
Rum Sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and sugar 6-cup soufflé dish. Combine ¼ cup sugar and flour in medium saucepan. Gradually whisk in milk. Boil over medium-high heat until mixture thickens, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Stir to cool slightly. Whisk in yolks 1 at a time. Beat in banana puree and butter. Beat egg whites with salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold 1/3 into banana mixture to loosen. Gently fold in remaining whites. Turn batter into prepared dish. Bake until soufflé is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Continue baking until top of soufflé is browned and skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve immediately with sauce.

Rum Sauce

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup water
1 cinnamon stick
½ cup dark rum

Cook sugar, water and cinnamon in saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves, swirling pan occasionally. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add rum and simmer 5 minutes more.