Name: Tremendous Cabbage and Noodles
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 12 oz wide egg noodles; 1 small head, about 2 lb green cabbage; 1 large yellow onion, diced; 6 tbsp unsalted butter; 1.5 tsp kosher salt; 1 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked; 2 cloves garlic, minced; as needed sour cream (for serving); 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Tremendous Cabbage and Noodles

Prep

10m

Cook

25m

Total

35m

Bigly says

Folks. FOLKS. Cabbage and noodles. Haluski. Whatever you want to call it. The greatest, most tremendous, most UNDERRATED dish in the history of dishes — and let me tell you, this one is criminally underrated, it's a crime, somebody should be in handcuffs over how underrated this is. Five ingredients. FIVE. And it tastes like your great-grandmother just walked out of an old country kitchen and slapped a plate down in front of you and said 'eat.' Tremendous.

A guy named Ramón taught me this — and yes, before you start, I know, Ramón sounds like he should be teaching me tacos, not haluski, but Ramón was full of surprises, Ramón had been EVERYWHERE, Ramón did not believe in borders when it came to cabbage. He's the truth. And he told me the same thing my own grandmother used to mutter while she cooked, which was: the Polish, the Slovaks, the Hungarians, the Czechs — they all figured out HUNDREDS of years ago that you can take some cabbage, some noodles, some butter, some onion, and you've got a meal that beats a $40 entree. They knew. They've ALWAYS known. We're just catching up. Meanwhile, fancy chefs on TV are out here charging you THIRTY-TWO dollars for a 'deconstructed' cabbage with eight kinds of microgreens. Sad. A total disaster.

The secret — and we just give these away around here, no nonsense — is to BROWN the cabbage. Don't just wilt it. Don't be a wilter. Wilters are sad. You want some color on that cabbage, some little caramelized edges, sweet and toasty, and then the butter, and then the noodles, and folks, you've done it. You've made magic in a skillet. End of discussion.

Ingredients

12 ozwide egg noodles(the wider the better, this is not the time for spaghetti)
1 small head, about 2 lbgreen cabbage(core it, slice it thin)
1 largeyellow onion, diced
6 tbspunsalted butter(real butter, do not insult me with margarine)
1.5 tspkosher salt
1 tspblack pepper, freshly cracked
2 clovesgarlic, minced(optional but encouraged)
as neededsour cream (for serving)
2 tbspfresh parsley, chopped

Steps

1
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil for the noodles.
2
Core the cabbage and slice it into thin ribbons, about 1/4-inch wide. You should have 8-10 cups.
3
Melt 4 tbsp of butter in a large heavy skillet (cast iron is great) over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook 4-5 minutes until soft and translucent.
4
Add the sliced cabbage to the skillet in batches if needed, tossing to coat with butter. Season with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper.
5
Cook the cabbage over medium to medium-high heat, stirring every few minutes, until it collapses, softens, and develops golden-brown caramelized edges, 15-20 minutes. Don't rush this — the browning is the whole point.
6
Meanwhile, cook the egg noodles in the boiling water according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining.
7
Add the garlic to the cabbage in the last minute and stir until fragrant.
8
Add the drained noodles and remaining 2 tbsp butter to the skillet. Toss everything together over low heat. Add a splash of reserved pasta water if it looks dry.
9
Taste and adjust salt and pepper generously. Plate, top with parsley, and serve with a dollop of sour cream on the side.

One more thing

That's it. That is the entire thing. Five ingredients, twenty-five minutes, a plate of food that costs about four dollars to make and tastes like a million bucks. A MILLION. Nobody can sell you a fancy gadget to make this — there's no Cabbage-and-Noodles-O-Matic — it's just a skillet and a pot, the way humans have been cooking since CAVES. Make extra. Pack it for lunch tomorrow. It's even better cold, straight out of the fridge, standing in front of the open door at 11pm — and don't tell me you don't do that, we all do that, it's a beautiful tradition. Now go eat.

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Tremendous Cabbage and Noodles

Ingredients

Steps

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