When You Buy a Head of Cabbage

You might buy it because you need a portion of it in a specific recipe. You might buy it because it is hugely on sale. You might buy it because March is approaching and you don't drink so you need to get in touch with your Irish roots on some other level. Whatever the reason you may find yourself with all or part of a head of cabbage hanging about your refrigerator, looking winsome and lonely. Or at least lonely. You did not grow up eating cabbage. Or if you did grow up eating cabbage, you ate it boiled and your parents made you sit at the table till you'd eaten it and you'd just as soon forget about those times, okay. Yes, yes, okay. Do forget about those times. Because cabbage is actually a perfectly love-able vegetable. You just have to get to know it in the right situation first.

Here's how.

1. Make this really delicious borscht. Q: What is borscht? A: When two generally unbeloved vegetables get together and make a beautiful thing.

2. Roast it. I love this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen.

3. Saute it. A little oil, some chopped cabbage, salt, pepper. Saute until tender and brown on the edges. Then add a good squirt of lemon juice at the end. Do not omit the lemon juice. Without it, this is fairly bland and uninteresting (not gross, mind you, but bland and uninteresting), but the lemon changes all that. It's kind of like putting on mascara.

4. Make vegetable soup. It's very healthy and pretty tasty. It can be varied in a lot of ways or dolled up if that's your thing, but I eat it simply and like it just fine.