Salty, briny, tart, sour, pungent… all these adjectives describe my absolute favorite type of cooking: pickling.  Dill pickles being my favorite food of all time, I also appreciate almost any other vegetable pickled for that matter, and yes, that includes red cabbage, green cabbage, carrots, asparagus, green beans… the list goes on and on.  I’m one of those freaks who eats sauerkraut by the can (and happily enjoys the juice as well) and will never have enough kimchi in my life.  Simply put, I love anything that’s cooked in vinegar, and preferably stays there for quite some time.

This recipe isn’t exactly on the same level as say, making your own sauerkraut at home (someday!), but it’s got the same flavor profiles and ideas behind it.  You take a relatively bland vegetable like cabbage, cook it in tons of vinegar and some spices, then devour.  I made this specifically because I was craving kielbasa with cabbage and mashed potatoes and wanted to try and make a ‘healthy’ version.  I used turkey kielbasa (surprisingly delicious, I was so dubious), mashed cauliflower, and this lovely pickled red cabbage. The whole plate came out at under 450 calories (no joke!) and the flavor profiles are all there – sans the guilt!

Pickled Red Cabbage

Based on Bobby Flay’s recipe.

Makes about 8 cups pickled cabbage.

Warning: I like things beyond vinegary.  The sourer the better – I want my pickled anything to make my lips pucker.  So this may be a bit strong. I recommend starting out with 2 cups vinegar and going up if you like. Also, in retrospect I wish I would have shredded the cabbage in my food processor using the shredder insert, but I was too lazy to lug it out so I just chopped it by hand.

Ingredients

• 2 TBL olive oil
• 2½ cups red wine vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 3 TBL sugar
• 2 teaspoons whole mustard seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 large head red cabbage, thinly sliced (or shredded)
• 1½ to 2 TBL kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. In a large non-reactive saucepan, combine the olive oil, vinegar, water, sugar, and garlic.  Bring to a low boil and simmer until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the cabbage and about 1 TBL of the salt and the pepper.  Simmer over a low boil for about 15 minutes.  Taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed.
3. Cook until cabbage is very tender and flavorful.  I let mine simmer for about 40 minutes and then turn off the heat and let it marinate about an hour.
4. Serve with turkey kielbasa and mashed cauliflower.