Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Cabbage, Carrots & Dried Mushrooms
I love Mollie Wizenberg’s Cabbage braised in cream, but the rest of my family is not as enamored of the dish as me. So, I’ve prepared the recipe twice, and both times had several to 3 wedges of cooked cabbage sitting in the fridge, crying out to be used up.
Hence this recipe:
7 or so dried Shitake mushrooms
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta – the first time I made this I had whole wheat pappardelle – ribbons – from Trader Joe’s, but what always seems to happen to me with dear old Trader Schmoes is immediately I like something of theirs and try to buy it a second time, they don’t carry it anymore – so I used ww spaghetti for round two
2 TBLS olive oil
about 1/3 cup thinly sliced onion
1 large carrot
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup white wine
2 TBLS soy sauce
3 or so wedges of cabbage braised in cream – 2/3 to half the recipe
Soak the mushrooms in boiling water to 30 minutes or more. trim off the tough stems (save for stock if you like) and thinly slice the caps. Start the water for the pasta. Pour the olive oil into a wide deep skillet (like the one you braised the cabbage in), and heat. Peel the carrot and cut it into matchsticks. Add the carrots and onion to the oil in the pan and start sauteing. Salt lightly and add the mushroom caps. Pour in a few tablespoons of the mushroom soaking water (if you carefully just pour off a little liquid from the top of the mushroom soaking bowl, you can leave any grits behind, and don’t even have to strain it), cover the pan and cook until the mushrooms and carrots are tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover the pan, boil off the liquid, and add the sugar, wine, and soy sauce. Boil those off, too, till the vegetables are lightly caramelized and the pan is pretty dry. Slice the cabbage thinly, add it to the pan, cover and turn off the heat until the pasta is done.
When the pasta is done, drain it – it’s probably a good idea to save some of the pasta water for moistening if the dish seems too dry; I always forget. Turn the heat back on under the vegetable pan, add the pasta, and toss well. Serve with a pepper grinder.
