Anna Sultana's Kabocca Moqlija bil-Bacon / Cabbage and Bacon, Maltese Style

Like I said yesterday, it's time to cook vegetables with more heft.

Frankly, I'm a little tired of lettuce.

Lettuce is great when it's too hot to cook.

And when folks don't have much of an appetite.

Eating lettuce doesn't feel like you're eating anything.

But now it's time for real meals.

Something steaming... soups, casseroles, cooked vegetables.

Broccoli is nice.

Cabbage is nice, too.

Cabbage - green or red - is one of those good-for-what-ails-you veggies.

Remember the boys' Ma cooking red cabbage in the movie A Christmas Story?

Winter... meatloaf... mashed potoes... boiled cabbage.

Yeah, cabbage!

My Ma had a cabbage recipe that was a meal in itself.

Well, it was when there was some crusty bread on the side.

Or some pasta.

                           

                    Kaboċċa moqlija bil-bacon

Shred

1 cabbage

Into a large pot pour

1/2 Cup water

Add the shredded cabbage.

Simmer until tender.  Drain.

Chop

4 rashers of bacon

In a dutch oven pour

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Add the bacon and fry.

Add the cooked cabbage.

Stir until reheated thoroughly.

Serve hot.

This, served with bread or pasta, made a meal.

Ground meat - whatever you have (as in Ma's meat pie) - could be used 

instead of bacon.

For a little variety, Ma sometimes made a one pot meal.

After adding the cabbage to the cooked bacon:

Stir in 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt.

Cover and cook until the rice is done, about 20 minutes.

Some folks stuff cabbage leaves with cooked rice.

This is way easier.

Someone should tell them... 

Carmela Soprano's Pizza Style Potatoes (Patate Alla Pizzaiola) and Anna Sultana's Patata Fgata (Smothered Potatoes with Fennel, Maltese Style)

Like the song says
You say po - tay - to
I say po - tah - to.

Carmela and Ma knew what to do with a potato, no matter what they called it.

In Carmela's Entertaining with The Sopranos, there's a nice variation on her roasted potatoes - Patate Alla Pizzaiola.  

Don't panic.  

It's Pizza Style Potatoes.  

Easy.  No crust.

In a roasting pan place, in a single layer
2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

Toss with
6 large plum tomatoes, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
A sprinkling of
garlic, oregano, salt and pepper

Make it as spicy or mild as the family likes.

Roast the vegetables at 450º, stirring twice, for 1 hour, until the potatoes are cooked.

Sprinkle with
1/4 cup grated Romano and cook 5 minutes more.
Serve hot.

Ma had something similar.  Patata Fgata.
Smothered Potatoes with Fennel.  No, this isn't a stew.
I'm talking fennel seed, not the vegetable.
Although that could work, too.  

Back to Ma's Patata Fgata

Slice
6 potatoes
2 onions
Place them in a dutch oven.

Add
1 chopped clove of garlic
a sprinkling of fennel seed

1 cup of stock (chicken, beef, vegetarian - your choice)
2 tablespoons olive oil.  

Season with
salt and pepper

Cover and cook over high heat to bring it to a boil.

Lower heat and simmer another 15 minutes, until done.

Would I make Patate Alla Pizzaiola again?  

Sure, with Parmesan.  When the oven is on.

And I wouldn't peel them.

Would I make Patata Fgata?

Why sure.  When the oven is off.

Another recipe down.  Thirty-nine more to go.