With Thanksgiving just over a week away, we really need to finalize what to serve or bring for the feast. One of my favorites, and one of the easiest holiday side dishes (aside from a simple baked sweet potato or steamed green beans) is Brussels sprouts with roasted chestnuts. It is so easy it really isn’t even a recipe. You won’t need instructions after you’ve made it one time. The most labor-intensive part of the process is roasting the chestnuts and that job can be done a day or two ahead.

Fresh chestnuts are widely available from now through the end of the year. To prepare your washed chestnuts for roasting, score an x through the dark outer shell on the rounded side of the nut. There are special knives just for this task but a short, sharp paring knife works fine. Place the scored nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes in a 350, until your cut x has curled back to expose some inner flesh. After removing from the oven (I actually did ours in the toaster oven since we still have no gas), wrap the hot chestnuts in a dish towel and crunch them with your hands a bit to loosen the skins. Let them steam like that for about 5 minutes and then peel – a somewhat time-consuming job but one that can be done while watching TV or talking on the phone. You can use the chestnuts immediately or store them in a glass jar in the fridge a few days until ready to use. And if all of this seems like too much work, jarred and bagged roasted and peeled chestnuts are easily purchased.

Similarly, it isn’t hard to clean, steam or roast Brussels sprouts (but frozen are delicious, too). Just trim off the tough bottoms, halve if large, place in a steamer insert in a pot with a lid and add an inch or so of water. Steam 5-6 minutes or until just pierce-able with a fork or knife. Please, please, please be careful not to overcook! Drain and add a generous knob of butter (or earth balance or whatever you use instead of butter), the semi- chopped chestnuts and a generous sprinkle of plain salt, an herb salt like Herbamare or a flavored salt – perhaps truffle?

I hated Brussels sprouts as a kid, perhaps because they were always served over cooked or because the smell of overcooked cruciferous vegetables is so disgusting. But when I started cooking them for myself and adding butter and salt, I learned to enjoy eating them. The sweet, creamy flavor of the chestnuts is a perfect balance to the vegetal Brussels sprout flavor. This bright green dish, along with a salad and cranberries, will enliven a Thanksgiving table full of predominantly brown, white or pumpkin colored foods. And if it is too much effort to make or get chestnuts, (although I think you’ll find it is worth the time), just cheat and toss in a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds and currants and you’ll have made an otherwise plain vegetable seem quite festive.

I didn’t grow up eating Kimchi. I had never even heard of it before I was in grad school and tried some at the new Korean restaurant that had just replaced a local coffee shop. From the smell, I was afraid it would be too strong for my taste and was surprised at how much I liked it. But it wasn’t until the last few years that I began eating kimchi with any regularity after it started appearing in our neighborhood markets. Kimchi, spicy pickled Napa cabbage, is eaten daily in many Korean homes and is becoming more popular in contemporary American cooking. Kimchi in fried rice, added to tacos or quesadillas, blended into deviled eggs or layered on a sandwich are just a few of the ways it is used. Kimchi, like yogurt, has gut-friendly probiotics as well as vitamins, minerals and fiber, the kind of food we need more of in our diets. One day last year, when I had run out of our preferred brand and wanted to top a salmon burger with some (our favorite use), it occurred to me that I should try making it myself.

The biggest task in making kimchi at home is gathering the ingredients. The gochugaru, the coarse Korean red pepper flakes, not that obscure anymore, is found in Asian markets or places where globally sourced spices are sold. (In New York, I found it at Kalustyan, Sahadi’s and H Mart and all have online ordering). Napa cabbage, daikon and fresh ginger are widely available these days. Garlic, scallions and carrots round out the ingredient list. Some traditional recipes call for fish sauce, rice flour, fermented baby shrimp, plum paste and sugar, all of which would probably add complexity to the finished product but I wanted a gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan version so I left out all the extras.

When it comes to pickling of any sort, I refer to Sandor Katz, the guru of all things fermented. My recipe is based on the sugar free kimchi recipe in his book Wild Fermentation. In another book, Basic Fermentation, he offers a version of the same recipe using chili paste instead of flakes (so you have an option if you can’t find gochugaru). Another good source is Marta Vongerichten’s The Kimchi Chronicles  which is a little more traditional but explains and illustrates every aspect of the process in detail. The steps to making kimchi are pretty simple and straightforward, perhaps the most important being keeping everything submerged to ferment, like making sauerkraut, so as not to grow mold. Just remember to wear disposable gloves if you want to avoid staining your hands from the pepper paste and use, of course, clean glass jars.

EASY KIMCHI

• 1 large head Napa cabbage (+/-2lbs), cored and cut into 1-1 1/2“ wide strips
• 1 medium daikon- peeled and cut into coins or small sticks (julienne)
• 3 carrots; scrubbed or peeled and cut in strips(julienne)(some people prefer thin slices or grated)
• 1 bunch scallions, washed and cut in1-2” pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1 1/2” knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced or sliced thinly
• 3 TBs gochugaru
• 4 TBs salt dissolved in
• 4-8 cups water- as needed to cover vegetables

Combine the cabbage, daikon and carrots in a large non-reactive bowl (like glass or stainless steel)

Pour the salted water over vegetables and soak for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally

Drain vegetables and reserve the brine.

Wearing disposable gloves to protect your hands, mix together the garlic, ginger and gochugaru

Add the scallions to the drained vegetables, add the seasoned gochugaru paste and rub it into the vegetables.

Pack the coated mixture into clean glass jars and pack down well to release some brine to cover vegetables. If there isn’t enough liquid, add just enough of the reserved brine to cover them. You can keep the vegetables submerged with a plate and jar filled with water, a freezer bag filled with the leftover brine or some other pickling weights.

Cover with a dish towel and let the jars sit for a day or two to start the fermentation. Like sauerkraut, you can decide when you think it is “cooked”. Remove the weights and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Current work by Julia Galloway is on view at Clay Art Center in Portchester, NY

It’s that time of year – the moment for spring cleaning your fridge. You are craving some fresh greens but planting season has barely begun in the Northeast. Sautéed bagged greens have worn out their welcome and you want something to taste fresh. My suggestion is to turn to the reliable old green cabbage that has made it through the winter in the back of your refrigerator (and needs to be cooked anyway) and liven it up with some fresh herbs.

Spring cleaning is one of the few annual rituals I actually participate in wholeheartedly. I dive into dusting, wiping, washing and vacuuming with a kind of mania I don’t have for cleaning the rest of the year. I think that I hate the heat of summer so much that I try to go into it with the most strenuous cleaning behind me. It is also a great time for purging the your pantry and fridge of anything which has been in there too long – oils or nuts that smell rancid, horseradish that has lost its zip (time to make fresh), the jalapeños you meant to use but are now a mushy blob in a bag – you get the idea.

If your cabbage is looking a little sad, soak it in some icy salt water after slicing to perk it up. You can sauté in a combination of olive oil and butter for flavor or simply use olive oil and toss in your herbs just as the cabbage finishes cooking. If you don’t like dill, use parsley or cilantro. Err on the side of more herbs than less. If you want to vary the dish, add some carrots, sliced or julienned, or if you want to sauté an onion or some garlic before adding the cabbage, go for it. My only unwavering advice is to be very careful not to overcook the cabbage. You want the cabbage to be green and not soggy. This dish is a breeze to prepare, tastes great and packs a nutritional punch (cruciferous vegetable plus herbs). What could be easier to cook as the weather warms and we look forward to the arrival of spring greens?

(For a few other spring suggestions for using up things in your vegetable drawer or year round vegetables, see my past posts on carrots, watercress, cabbage salad, parsnips and watermelon radishes).

SAUTÉED CABBAGE WITH FRESH DILL

• 1 small head of cabbage (firm, heavy and unblemished is best)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil (or 1 oil and 1 butter)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2-4Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped (I like a lot but you might like less-taste to see)
• 1-2 Tablespoons water

Cut the cabbage into 6 sections (vertically through the core) and then slice each sixth into thin slices. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and when hot add the cabbage. Add a tablespoon or two of water, as needed, to help the cabbage cook quickly and add the salt. Sauté until just starting to soften but still bright green. You want to keep a bit of crunch. Remove from the heat and add the pepper and the fresh dill, toss and serve.

This dish keeps well when refrigerated for a couple of days and tastes good at room temperature, if you don’t want to reheat it.

A note on the ceramics:

I got this Sunshine Cobb earthenware bowl last spring at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia and it has quickly become one of the most used in our home. It is the perfect size for rice, yogurt, nuts – so many things – and the texture keeps it from slipping out our hands when washing. I enjoy the contrast of the glossy interior and the sandblasted matte exterior as well as that color – it is pure sunshine! Cobb makes a wide range of really appealing functional ceramics from whiskey cups, tumblers and mugs to rectangular servers, garlic keepers and vases. I just may be tempted to collect (and use) an assortment in all her beautiful colors!