Braised Savoy Cabbage with Garlic – Easy Side Dish Recipe

Savoy cabbage makes a delicious side dish. Main courses are usually, as a rule even, served with a side. The exception is perhaps elaborate dishes that already contain their own side. Cutlets, chops and fish, for example, are traditionally served with a side dish. But meat with potatoes (my favorite) is already its own side — two in one.

The word “garnish” comes from the French garnir — to decorate. It is an addition to the main dish. Usually it serves not only to give the main dish a finished look, even an aesthetic meaning, but also to add a contrasting flavor. I often recall a story: I once asked a friend who had lived in Japan for a long time, “In a few words, what makes Japanese cuisine special?” He thought for a second and answered, “In the dish ‘chicken with rice', the chicken is the side dish for the rice.”

Today the idea of a side dish is much simpler: it is just an addition to the meal — fried or braised vegetables, boiled grains, beans and so on. That said, there are elaborate sides that take hardly less effort than the main dish.

One of the simplest and most accessible ways to make a side dish is braising. The point of the process is heating food in a small amount of liquid, or even with no liquid at all. Often the food's own moisture is quite enough. You may also come across the term “poaching”. It is worth saying that braising is not a quick process — half an hour at the very least. And you should braise in a covered pan to keep the moisture, flavor and aroma.

Vegetables are ideal for braising. Almost every cuisine in the world has famous braised dishes. Well-known examples: bigos — braised cabbage with pork and prunes; yahni — a whole family of Balkan and Eastern dishes that are essentially braised vegetables.

In my opinion, the most perfect vegetable for a braised side dish is cabbage. Cabbage grows almost everywhere. Recently I wanted to buy a cabbage, but the heads were far too big, like pumpkins. So I bought a Savoy cabbage. For some reason Savoy cabbage is not very popular here, and that's a pity. Savoy cabbage forms the same kind of heads, just a slightly greener shade and with slightly crinkled leaves.