Cabbage love

How do you tell if a cabbage is ready to pick?  Beats me.  But I needed one for supper on Wednesday, so I picked one.  A Jersey Wakefield cabbage, to be precise.

After cutting it open, I could see that it still had a bit of growing to do.  But that's okay, it will still taste good.

I made one of my favoritest meals.  It's from my Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, and it's officially called Pork Rib Dinner.  But you can use pork chops or sliced pork hocks with it as well.

You'll need:
4 lbs pork pieces (ribs, chops, hocks, etc.)
1/3 cup flour
2 Tbsp salad oil
2 cups apple juice
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 lbs potatoes, cut into 1-1/2" chunks
1 lb carrots, cut into 1-1/2" pieces
1 lb small onions, quartered (optional)
1 small head cabbage, shredded

Take the pork pieces and coat each with flour.  [I've used sliced pork hock here.]  Save the leftover flour.  Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven and brown the pork pieces on all sides over medium-high heat.  Remove the pieces to another plate.  Reduce heat to medium.

Heat oven to 350.  Into the pork drippings, stir the reserved flour.  Add 2 cups apple juice.  Blend well.

Return the browned meat to the pan and add 1 Tbsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper.  Heat to boiling.  Cover the Dutch oven and bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes.

Add the potatoes, carrots and onion and bake another 40 minutes.  Stir.  Add the cabbage and bake another 30-40 minutes, til veges are cooked through and cabbage is softened.  Stir several times during baking.

If I made this dish in the fall, I could use all local ingredients.  But it's too yummy to only have during one season.  If you're pressed for cooking time, cut the veges smaller so they take less time to cook.

The best part of this recipe is the cabbage.  In fact, I usually put one-and-a-half heads in the dish, and leave out the onions (which the hubby and kids don't like anyway).  I love cabbage, in all its various forms.  Raw, cooked, slawed, brined, whatever.  Love love love cabbage.  Yummmm.