It's the end of the week and time to get rid of a few bits in the refrigerator before I do my grocery shop for the next week. The bits I have leftover that are not large enough to be or make a meal on their own, but put together with other things can make a really tasty meal indeed!
I have this really old cookbook in my treasury which is one my mother bought as part of a set of housekeeping books when she first got married in the early 1950's. As a child I loved to peruse it's pages and think about the recipes on them. As an adult each time I visited home, I would painstakingly copy out recipes to try on my family.
This was one I had always planned on trying but never got around to. This week I found myself with some cabbage and leftover cooked rice in the refrigerator so I thought to myself there is no time like the present to give it a go!
I changed up a few things however. I also had a bit of cauliflower and broccoli that needed using up and so I incorporated them into the dish. And why not. They are all cruciferous vegetables and all go well with cheese!
I also felt they would be a bit more appealing if I cooked them in a skillet along with some butter than merely boiling them. What can I say . . . I'm a glutton, and it worked . . . deliciously so.
I also added a chopped onion to the mix for even more flavours. Altogether this was a fabulous side dish, and one in which you can control the fat content by using low fat evaporated milk instead of cream . . . and less of a more strongly flavoured cheese . . . it was served with some leftover turkey that I merely sliced and heated up. And it went down a real treat.
Of course I could have just chopped up the turkey and heated it up with the rice . . . but that seemed a bit too much like fried rice to me, and I did not really want fried rice. ;-) This was really good.
*Buttered Vegetables with Rice and Cheese*Serves 4Printable Recipe
This is a recipe I adapted from a very old cookery book of my mothers by Ida Allen, called the Money Saving Cookbook. It makes great use of bits of this and that.
1/2 a medium head of cabbage, trimmed and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)a few cauliflower florets, trimmed and chopped (about 3/4 cup)a few broccoli florets, trimmed and chopped (about 3/4 cup)1 small onion, peeled and chopped3 TBS butter1 cup of raw rice, cooked and cooled (3 cups cooked, can use leftover cooked rice)2 TBS cream or undiluted evaporated milk (I used the evaporated milk, light)1/2 cup of grated strong flavoured cheese (90g . . . strong cheddar, grated Parmesan, whatever you have onhand which has a lot of flavour)salt and black pepper to taste
Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the cabbage and onion and cook, stirring over medium heat for about 5 to 8 minutes, until the cabbage is softenly nicely and beginning to color. Add the broccoli and cauliflower. Cook for a further 4 to 5 minutes, until the cauliflower and broccoli are crispy tender. Add the rice and heat through. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Add the cream/milk and cheese, stirring it through. Cover and let stand for about five minutes to melt the cheese. Serve hot.
Alternately you can use all cabbage in which case you will need 3 cups of cabbage. You want an equal amount of rice and veg.
Bon Appetit!
