Cabbage! It’s not just for St. Patrick’s Day.
🥬🥬🥬
Are you a once-a-year cabbage person? I always make the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner for St. Patrick’s Day, but until recently that was the extent of my cabbage repertoire. Then somewhere along the way, I expanded my horizons.
This humble veggie is a key ingredient in so many recipes and cuisines. Check out my Asian inspired Chicken and Cabbage, Moo Shoo Pork and Chicken Chow Mein. Or how about this Portuguese Cabbage Soup with Linguica? Polish stuffed cabbage rolls, yes please! But wait, I’m Italian. Shouldn’t I have an Italian recipe with cabbage? Well now I do, and it is AMAZING.
This post contains affiliate links.
You know I love braised dishes, where the ingredients slowly cook down and the flavors concentrate and intensify. Usually, this process takes several hours or more, but not in this recipe. With a little advance prep, you can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes. So easy to make, with very little seasoning needed as the sausage flavors the entire dish. And what a delicious meal it is. So, let’s get started.
Dinner for two
Ingredients:
- olive oil
- 4 oz. sweet Italian sausage (I like Premio)
- 2 cups sliced sweet onion
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- 4 cups shredded savoy cabbage
- crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1/4 tsp. thyme
- 1 cup water, more as needed
- 4 oz. gluten free pasta (I used Farabella Rigatoni) incredible!
- 1/4 cup grated cheese (I used a combo of parmesan and Romano)
Preparation:
Boil salted water for the pasta.
In a 3 qt. stock pot, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil on medium low, remove casings from the sausage and begin breaking it up with a meat spatula.
Continue cooking until the meat is completely browned, then add the onions.
Stir frequently and cook for several minutes until the onions are translucent. Then add the tomato paste to the center of the pan.
Let it toast for a minute, before stirring it into the sausage and onions.
Next, add all of the cabbage with the thyme, and a pinch of red pepper flakes (more if you like).
Stir thoroughly to combine, then add about 1 cup of water. You can use a ladle of the pasta water if it’s ready.
Cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes, adding a bit more water if it seems dry.
Cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than package directions. Drain and add it into the pan. You can add a little of the pasta water as needed. Toss well and continue cooking for 2 minutes longer to finish the pasta. When ready to serve, remove the pan from the heat and drizzle with olive oil and half of the grated cheese.
Give it a good stir then transfer to a serving bowl and finish with a little more olive oil and cheese.
Doesn’t that look good? It was really an excellent dinner and something you can make after St. Patrick’s Day if you still have cabbage in the fridge to use up.
You can even sneak this one by the kids, just don’t mention the veggies. 😉 Picky eaters will gobble up this yummy bowl of comfort food if you let the cabbage be your little secret!
Notes ♪♫ Is it gluten free? The only ingredient substitution needed for this recipe was the pasta, and of course I had just the thing in the pantry! This gluten free rigatoni from Farabella was a splurge, but it was incredible. It tastes just like real pasta- so do check it out! If you can’t find Farabella pasta near you it is available here on Amazon.
