Speaking of plants my Harvest Baskets from Skarsgard Farms have starting coming and Oh. Em. Gee. They are the best thing in the entire world. It's like every Tuesday, Santa just brings me a gift of fresh fruits and vegetables and leaves it on the front door. It is SO exciting; I get giddy on Tuesday mornings when I realize they're coming today.
The first week in the CSA, I put a cabbage in my harvest box, partly because my cousin Claire has a delcious and simple recipe for coleslaw (cabbage, carrots, vinegar, salt) but mostly on a whim, because I really have no idea what to do with a head of cabbage.
Later in the week, because of my own self-imposed, possibly-excessive rule to only eat bread that I have baked myself, I found myself in a frustrating bit of a bind. I had delicious mayo that I had taken the time to make over the weekend. I had delicious tomatoes from Skarsgard Farms. I had amazing sliced deli meat that I had taken aaaaalll afternoon to go up to Keller's, the fancy meat shop with a wide selection of local/small-farm products. The only thing I didn't have was bread.
And I really wanted a sandwich. Plus (surprise, surprise) I was running late, and I just wanted something I could grab and eat with me on the run.
So, long story short, I decided to make lettuce wraps instead, and use the leaves from my cabbage. Truthfully? I thought this was going to be a total disaster. Oh God, I kept thinking to myself, this is going to be a sad, sad lunch. I thought the cabbage would taste weird and overpoweringly cabbage-y, the inside would be bland, and the whole thing would be a wet, sloppy, slimey affair, as all my experiments with lettuce wraps have been in the past.
I was. So. Wrong. These lettuce wraps were amazing, and held together like magic. Cabbage leaves! Who knew! I went through a phase in college when I was obsessed with the South Beach diet (don't judge), a time during which I tried my hand at a lot of lettuce wraps and they were always limp and pathetic excuses for meals. Apparently, sturdy cabbage leaves were all I needed.
Inside, I threw some homemade mayo, some dill weed, smoked ham, tomatoes, avocado and shredded carrots. The shredded carrots were another bonus: as a part of my mission to eat plants, as Pollan instructs, I make sure to take time during the preparation of every meal to think, "Is there some way for me to add just one more vegetable to this plate? The carrots were my extra vegetable here - not something I'd usually put in a sandwich, but with the lettuce wrap, it seemed like it made sense - and it did. The carrots were a subtle, crisp, fresh addition to the wrap.
But I think the mayonnaise is what made it stand out, although when I told Farm & Table's head chef about the mayonnaise in my creation, he gave me a look of total confusion and possibly even personal offense that I would do something so unpleasant with my food. So what do I know? All I know is that I made a lettuce wrap and I thought it was going to be awful, but it was fantastic instead.
In fact, now that I know how sturdy and how mild cabbage leaves are, I'm ready to stuff all kinds of stuff inside there. A turkey caprese cabbage roll, for example, with smoked turkey, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinaigrette. Or a chicken fajita cabbage roll, with peppers, onions, and grilled chicken.
Needless to say, I sort of felt like I had won the jackpot. Not only did I find a healthy, flavorful, filling alternative to a sandwich, swapping the bread for cabbage makes me feel like I've taken a HUGE step closer towards eating mostly plants.
Which is a big deal to me. I make it a point to eat vegetables and fruit with every meal, and since starting this project, I always dig into the vegetables first. Still, Pollan doesn't just say "eat plants," or even, "eat plants with every meal." He says, eat MOSTLY plants. I have to admit, despite my best efforts, I still think of vegetables as a side - there aren't a whole lot of plates that utilize veggies as the main dish that I would feel totally satisfied eating. But by adding cabbage and carrots to a fairly common lunch of mine, I can add at least one to the list. And it's important, despite my shortcomings, to keep striving.
Mostly plants, Leigh. MOSTLY PLANTS.
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