Dish of Carp with Red Cabbage
(click to enlarge)

Fish with Red Cabbage


Poland   -   Lin lub Karp Duszony w Kapuscie Czerwonej
Makes:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 3 #
***
1-1/4 hr
Short		 Unusual color, but fine eating. The Fish and the Cabbage are of equal importance here. Makes enough for 5 to 6 main servings. Serve with something like Smashed Potatoes.

1-1/2
2
8
1-1/2
1
1
3
1/2
1/3
1/2
#
#
oz
T
T
c
T
T
t
t
Fish Fillet (1)
Red Cabbage  
Onion
Butter
Flour
Wine Red dry
Lemon Juice
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Do-Ahead
  1. Fillet your FISH if not already done.
Prep   -   (20 min)
  1. Cut FISH FILLETS into serving size pieces as desired. If using Carp, cut crosswise and no shorter than 2 inches, or the pin bones will be difficult to manage.
  2. Peel away damaged or discolored leaves from CABBAGE. Cut into 6 wedges. Cut cores from wedges and cut crosswise to shreds, about 1/4 inch wide.
  3. Slice ONION in half, then two lengthwise wedge cuts to near the root. Slice fairly thin crosswise.
  4. Squeeze Lemon Juice.
Run   -   (50min)
  1. In a 5 quart, non-reactive pot, bring 2-1/2 quarts of water to a boil. Stir in Cabbage, slosh it around and immediately pour out through a strainer. Return to the pot and set aside.
  2. In a 3-1/2 quart sauté pan or similar, melt Butter and fry Onion over moderate heat until light golden.
  3. Sprinkle Flour onto the onions stirring well to keep it from forming lumps, then stir in Red Wine. Stir until evenly distributed and thickening some.
  4. Stir into the Cabbage: Lemon Juice, Salt, and Pepper, then mix Cabbage into Onions.
  5. Stir in SUGAR, cover and simmer over low heat until cabbage is pretty much done, about 20 minutes.
  6. Add Fish and tumble to bury under the Cabbage. Do this quickly before the fish starts to flake. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered until Fish will flake, 5 to 12 minutes depending on fish and thickness of fillets. Be careful not to over cook.
  7. Serve hot with plenty of Cabbage along with the Fish.
NOTES:

  1. Fish Fillets:

      The pattern recipe strongly suggests Tench or Carp. Making this for myself, I'd use delicious Carp, but not for guests. I have seen a hundred Carp recipes, and not a single one has mentioned that Carp flesh is shot full of tiny pin bones that cannot be removed before cooking (Tench, same problem). The rest of the world has learned to deal with these at the table, but not in North America. Catfish would be a good substitute (unless you are an observant Jew), but Golden Pompano or Japanese Amberjack would do fine. Tilapia will work fine too, if treated gently. The main thing is that the fish is fairly mild and holds together well with wet cooking. The photo example was made with Tilapia. For details see our Common Carp page and our Varieties of Fish page (very large page).

  2. Comments:

      This recipe is quite flexible as to scale, and could be reduced to as far as half size.
  3. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch tt=to taste ar=as required
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