January Mess Hall Group Cookout ~ Theme: Winter Vegtables

I'm cookin'!!!

Seemed like a good time to check into those things from way back that were Winter vittles since they stored so well over the cold months... So obvious choices are the root veggies that stored well, but also things like cabbage and squash did good in old fashioned root cellars.

I'm hoping to get really ambitious and use this to finally attempt making stuffed cabbage rolls. I have some other ideas as well I may sneak in here over the two weeks.

Great theme Dustin, I'm cooking.

Do veggies in a stew count there new Stew?

Yup...tough crowd here.

You'll learn how rambunctious I can be.

Aaron...fill him in.

Welcome Dustin...I'm sure you'll do great. Glad to have you here.

simon1 said:

Do veggies in a stew count there new Stew?

Yup...tough crowd here.

You'll learn how rambunctious I can be.

Aaron...fill him in.

Welcome Dustin...I'm sure you'll do great. Glad to have you here.

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I had pre-pondered that exact question, and to be honest, yes indeed, a good solid Winter veggie based stew does count. Though, I'd hope that if someone was going to go that route, they'd really go all in and not just drop a couple carrots into a stew and call it done. I would hope to see turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, celery root, etc.. really step up the game.

simon1 said:

Do veggies in a stew count there new Stew?

Yup...tough crowd here.

You'll learn how rambunctious I can be.

Aaron...fill him in.

Welcome Dustin...I'm sure you'll do great. Glad to have you here.

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I'm Cookin'

Now Mike, you behave...no, don't do that, we need a few clowns in the classroom.

DoctorShavegood said:

I'm Cookin'

Now Mike, you behave...no, don't do that, we need a few clowns in the classroom.

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Well, there's already one as Stew, so a few more in the class just makes sense. lol

Hardly a challenge . . . where I'm at this is a necessity. I'm cooking . . . may need a kick to remember to be posting though.

Alacrity59 said:

Hardly a challenge . . . where I'm at this is a necessity. I'm cooking . . . may need a kick to remember to be posting though.

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Excellent! Luckily it's merely a group cookout theme, and not a group cookout challenge then.

Almost time for cabbage and sausage. Maybe I'll add some carrots for a little flair.

oc_in_fw said:

Almost time for cabbage and sausage. Maybe I'll add some carrots for a little flair.

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Thats not winter vegetables...that's a German winter winner.

DoctorShavegood said:

Thats not winter vegetables...that's a German winter winner.

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I am torn between cabbage or kraut, but kraut is made out of cabbage, so....

oc_in_fw said:

Almost time for cabbage and sausage. Maybe I'll add some carrots for a little flair.

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That was several meals for me this week, as you saw in the other thread. Much of what I make, the wife doesn't eat, so I end up making it and eating it several meals over a week. lol

Roasted sweet potato, onion, and beets served on a baby kale couscous salad with a vinaigrette dressing.

Alacrity59 said:

Roasted sweet potato, onion, and beets served on a baby kale couscous salad with a vinaigrette dressing.
View attachment 714634

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Awesome!

So is everyone gearing up for the cookout and making plans?

I picked up the things I need to attempt stuffed cabbage... as well as a bunch more brussel sprouts to roast in the oven. The wife is away all week starting Monday, traveling for work, seemed a good week to consume all the cabbage things, since she'll not be here to have to suffer through the fallout. lol

Shave_Rat said:

I picked up the things I need to attempt stuffed cabbage... as well as a bunch more brussel sprouts to roast in the oven. The wife is away all week starting Monday, traveling for work, seemed a good week to consume all the cabbage things, since she'll not be here to have to suffer through the fallout. lol

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So you won't be smoking inside the house, right?

oc_in_fw said:

So you won't be smoking inside the house, right?

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Luckily, the size of the rooms and the really high ceilings in the house will prevent any dangerous levels of buildup of potentially flammable gases.

Hope this slots in here.

Suppose to be oven Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts with Rosemary & Romesco Sauce but needed to 'low & slow' a chunk of meat at the same time so my wife did the vegetables stove top.

Romesco sauce made of roasted red peppers, jalapeno, a few reconstituted New Mexico chilis, canned garden tomatoes, garlic, toasted almonds, toasted sourdough bread, olive oil, red wine vinegar, cayenne & smoked paprika, salt. Tomorrows meal, coincidentally, also calls for romesco sauce, a good call.

Used this recipe http://leitesculinaria.com/58629/recipes-romesco-sauce.html

Also a little side of diced sauteéd red pepper, frozen corn & edamame beans, i figure the frozen bits stored for winter use, why not. For me frozen vegetables shine with simply butter, salt and pepper.

Music; had put in a request at the library for around a dozen 'Rough Guide to Music' cd's and few came in today so sampling indigenous world music.

Wine; Sandbanks 2015 Foche - Baco Noir named after the area of the country my wife & i met, ok cheesy but we didn't purchase the bottle it was a gift and whether they knew the significance, no idea.dave

OK, stuffed cabbage rolls are in the crock pot, slow cooking to (hopefully) perfection. I looked up several different recipes, watched some youtube videos on making them, and in the end it wasn't too difficult.

For the stuffing, the various recipes were all over the place, and I realized that much like any other meat stuffing going into veggies/mushrooms, you can kind of do whatever you want with it, so I shot from the hip on it, making it up as I went.

pound of ground beef
Medium diced onion
diced orange sweet pepper (since I had an extra in the fridge that needed to be used up)
3/4 cup or so of cooked rice
couple cloves of garlic
salt
fresh ground pepper
smoked Hungarian hot paprika
1 egg

Put a large pot of water on to boil while I sauteed the onion, pepper, and garlic till it had some nice color, seasoning with salt during the sautee, and let that cool while I cored the head of cabbage. Lowered the water to a simmer and put the head into the pot. While that simmered, I mixed up the stuffing ingredients all together, adding a bit more salt, the ground pepper, paprika, egg, and rice.

I pulled the cabbage out so it could cool a bit to make it easier to handle. I separated the leaves off, some of them weren't quite ready, so I had to drop the head back in the water a few times after peeling a few layers, and had to blanch the leaves themselves since a few weren't quite ready to roll. Stripped the ribs off, and shaved them to make them thinner and more flexible, then it's just a matter of rolling a serving of filling up, and placing them into the crockpot. For help with the rolling process, there are several youtube vids showing the process, and they all did it pretty much the same, so I followed those.