Getting Rid of the Cabbage (A Salad Recipe)

My New Year’s resolution this year is to cut down on stuff.  This is partly motivated by an upcoming apartment move, but also seems like a good idea in general (except when Mark catches you sneaking his things into the box destined for Goodwill).  One of the small ways I am trying to declutter is to not hold onto magazines.  Pre-resolution, I’d hold onto cooking magazines and old issues of The New Yorker for years – yes, years – thinking I’d need a recipe or really be in the mood for that 2008 article on the economics of cashew nut farming in developing countries that I skipped the first time around.  

I mention all this because it serves, in a way, as the inspiration for this dinner.  A few weeks back I clipped a red cabbage salad recipe from an issue of Bon Appetit magazine before it made its way into the trash.   Last week we had half a head of red cabbage a few days away from desperately needing to join the magazine in the trash.  I tweaked this recipe using other ingredients we already had and served it with tilapia.  We got rid of the magazine and we got rid of the cabbage.  Here is the original recipe and here is the version I made:

Red Cabbage Salad with Bacon & Pecans

• Half a head of red cabbage, finely sliced (I used our mandolin)
• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• 3 T balsamic vinegar
• 4 slices bacon
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 1 T olive oil
• ½ cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

Soak the dried cranberries in the vinegar for at least 20 minutes.  Set aside like so:

 
Put your sliced cabbage in a large bowl (aka, the bowl you'll serve it out of).   Finely dice the shallot and set it aside.  Roughly chop the pecans.

Saute the bacon until crispy.  Add the shallots and cook for just a few minutes more with the bacon.  Remove from heat and stir in the cranberry/vinegar mix.

This will be the salad dressing.  Its sweet and tangy qualities work really well with the cabbage.  Add the chopped pecans to the cabbage, then the dressing and season with salt and pepper.  Mix well:

This went really well with some tilapia that I quickly crusted with panko and sauteed:

On Eating More Sweet Potatoes, Take 2

Although we haven't quite met our weekly goal of eating sweet potatoes, we have been pretty close.  Last week we made some great sweet potato oven fries to go with sandwiches and yesterday we made this dish of tilapia with bacony breadcrumbs and garlic mashed sweet potatoes.  It's really tasty and really quick and easy.

Tilapia with Bacony Breadcrumbs and Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is for two:

2 tilapia filets
3-6 pieces of bacon
About 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan

2 sweet potatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 T butter

Saute the bacon (I voted three pieces, Mark voted six and six won) until crispy, drain on paper towels and crumble.  Save enough of the grease to brown the panko in.  Mix that around till the panko is nice and bacony. Take off the heat and let cool a bit and stir in the cheese.

Meanwhile, get your taters boiling in salted water and preheat your oven to 375 or 400 -- we started at 375 and turned it up to 400 during the cooking.

Season your fish with salt pepper and any other dried herbs you like -- we used Lake Shore Drive seasoning from The Spice House, which we put on nearly everything.  Put them in a pan and drizzle with a little olive oil and get those in the oven.

When your potatoes are soft, drain them and mash them, mixing in the garlic and butter.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

Your fish should be close to done.  If it flakes easily with a form you are good to go.  Top with the panko mix and pop back in the oven for two to three more minutes to get that nice and browned.

If you have extra panko topping, it's pretty darn good sprinkled on top of the potatoes too.