Eat for Less: Oven Baked Cabbage and Feta Cheese

I promised, didn’t I?

I promised that every week I’ll try one recipe from my mum’s old cook book and tell you about it. Not least because most of these recipes are really examples of our ‘eat for less’ philosophy. They are:

• Inexpensive;
• Delicious;
• Nutritious; and (mostly)
• Fast to prepare.

This week I tried a recipe for cooking fresh cabbage.

Now, I love cabbage. Always have done and probably always will do. Cabbage is the only food that I can’t refuse never mind how full I am and how strict I may be about my diet.

It is a good thing that cabbage is a great from the point of view of nutrition. It contains no fat and a lot of fibre, Vitamins A, C and B, Potassium and Magnesium.

There are many ways to cook cabbage; this is a recipe that makes it a tad more interesting and ‘full bodied’.

Here is what you need to cook oven baked cabbage and feta cheese

For this recipe you need:

• 3 average size savoy cabbages;
• 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese;
• 200 ml tomato passata;
• 1 tsp paprika
• 3 eggs
• 100 ml milk

Preparation

Cut the cabbage is spaghetti strips. Place it in a tray and salt it. Leave for approximately 30 minutes.

After that press the cabbage so that it lets out some of its juices and the salt is absorbed. This will also make the cabbage less bulky.

Preheat a bit of olive oil in a wide pot. Put the cabbage in and fry for 5-10 minutes until it has reduced further. Add the paprika and stir. After that add the tomato passata and stir.

Once the tomato has been absorbed (2-3 minutes) add a little bit of boiling water and cover the pot. When the water has been absorbed add a bit more; etc. until the cabbage is soft. (Please watch the water; you really want the cabbage to be more steamed than boiled and you don’t need any water for the next stage.)

Once the cabbage is soft poor half of it in a deep tray. Spread the crumbled feta cheese and add the other half on top of that.

(Note: You may decide to put more feta cheese in or to reduce the amount; this is a matter of taste. I also suspect that this will be very nice with yellow cheese, particularly with crumpled hard yellow cheeses.)

Beat the three eggs and add the milk to them. Pour the mixture on top of the cabbage.

Place the tray in a preheated over (170C fan oven) and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

You can serve the cabbage on its own or as a side dish for meat.

Cost estimate

This cabbage meal costs approximately £2.30 for ten servings or 23 pence per serving. Pretty good if you ask me.

This is something to try this weekend. You can even cook it on Sunday if you want to surprise your loved one.