June has arrived. Another birthday has come and gone. The wisteria blossoms have wilted and fallen, leaving behind a thick carpet of graying petals. The mock orange is in full bloom, perfuming the driveway (and the air around the bouquet on my kitchen table) with the dreamy scent of sweet citrus. The last year has been a memorable one. I made new friends, had a beautiful relationship, tightened my bond my with my brother, embraced cycling, started this blog, and learned a lot about food, cooking and life.
I have no idea what the next year has in store for me, but as far as food is concerned, I have many hopes and projects. I want to deepen my connection with the food on my plate. Influenced by books such as Eating Animals (Jonathan Safran Foer), The Uninhabitable Earth (David Wallace-Wells), The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food and Cooked (Michael Pollan), I feel inspired more than ever to make food choices not only for the benefit of my own well-being, but also for the well-being of my community and of the planet. Luckily, the two often go hand in hand! I am also developing a curious drive to take more of food production into my own hands: I want to learn how to grow and process my own food. I want to take advantage of the bounty of nature all around me.
I also want to broaden my connection with food, by immersing myself in its social dimensions. I want prioritize my time in the kitchen in favour of making food to share and give over food designed for a photo shoot.
I still want to keep up the blog. I take great pleasure in documenting my discoveries and creations, but, at least while the weather is warm, I hope to spend less time behind the keyboard, researching and editing, and more time outside, on my bicycle, in nature, in the garden, and on the patio with friends and family.
A Salad that Stays Crunchy for Months
How do I generate ideas for new ferments? Well, one of my favourite exercises is to envision what a dish I enjoy would look like if I mixed them with cabbage and left them on my countertop for a few weeks. Japanese curry became Japanese curry kraut, sumac salad became sumac kraut, and apple cilantro lime slaw became, you guessed it, apple cilantro lime kraut. And chocolate? Well, I’m still working on that one…
I love the combination of lemon and poppy seeds in salad dressings (see, for example, this recipe, or this one), so here is a fermented version that will stays crispy for months and taste of a fine summer day, whatever the season.
If this is your first time fermenting vegetables, please check out the detailed instructions in this post.
Joëlle
Yields 3 quarts
With savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, radishes and peas, this salad-inspired kraut stays crispy for months and tastes like summer, whatever the season.
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Ingredients
- 1 savoy cabbage
- 2 cups Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
- 1 pack snow peas, cut into halves or thirds
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch Italian parsley, chiffonade
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 4 tbsp Himalayan Salt (or sea salt)
Instructions
- Wash your cabbage and remove the tough outer leaves. Set the leaves aside for later if you don't own fermentation weights, as they can be used to keep your ferment submerged.
- Start by slicing the cabbage very thinly. Transfer all the cabbage to a large glass or stainless steel bowl and mix in the 4 tablespoons of salt. While you prepare the rest of the ingredients, the salt can start to draw out the water from the cabbage, making it easier at the end to stuff the mixture into jars and to submerge it under its own juices.
- Prepare the rest of the ingredients, adding them to the large mixing bowl as you go.
- Mix all the ingredients together. At this point, the cabbage should be soft and you should have some liquid at the bottom of the bowl.
- Pack the mixture into mason jars, or your preferred fermentation vessel, making sure to eliminate any air bubbles and to submerge all of the vegetable pieces under their own liquid. I used 1 half-gallon jar, and 1 quart-sized jar for this recipe.
- Place a fermentation weight on top of the vegetables. Alternatively, press down some cabbage leaves saved in step 1 to keep your vegetables submerged. You can discard these leaves at the end of the fermentation period.
- Cover the jar with a lid, an airlock or a coffee filter or cheesecloth fastened with an elastic band.
- Leave the jars out at room temperature for two to three weeks, or until you are happy with the taste, and then transfer to the fridge.
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