How to Cook Savoy Cabbage and Love it!

One of the traditional dishes at my in-laws’ Christmas Eve feast is what they call “Fooey.” Fooey? Where does that come from? I have no idea. It’s probably an Italian-American version of some long-lost Italian word for cabbage. (Please let me know if you have ever heard of this!) It’s one of those dishes that looks kind of weird and sounds like something I really wouldn’t like to eat…but alas, it has become my favorite thing of all on Christmas Eve. And now, I make it throughout the year whenever I can, and there are rarely any leftovers. Basically, it is a Savoy cabbage that is boiled and then sautéed with garlic, then topped with a crispy anchovy mixture and a fried dried cayenne pepper. Sounds weird, right? It’s HOT, it’s salty, it’s cabbage-y and crispy at the same time. It’s total YUM!

But you need a Savoy cabbage, not a regular one, because the texture is softer and the taste is better for this dish. Please follow the instructions for the hot pepper, and you will experience one of the most wonderful textures of crispy hotness ever known to humanity.

5 healthy, hearty recipes with cabbage

Savoy Cabbage with Anchovies and Hot Peppers (Fooey!)

Ingredients:
1 Savoy cabbage
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
1 jar anchovies
¼ cup white flour
5 or 6 dried cayenne peppers

Directions:

1. Wash and chop up the Savoy cabbage (don’t make the pieces too small).

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the cabbage (boiling it for about 5 minutes). Then strain the water out.

3. In a large cast-iron pan, sauté the olive oil and chopped garlic cloves for a minute, then add the cabbage to cook it till it is gently cooked and only slightly browned.

4. In a separate, smaller cast-iron pan, put the anchovies and flour together with a bit of olive oil, and sauté until the anchovies and flour have mixed together, crumbled up, and turned into a brown crispy, salty, crunchy topping. Put this in a separate bowl, and add a bit of good fresh olive oil on top to make it even yummier.

5. Wash out that small cast-iron pan, and add another dose of olive oil. Then fry up the dried cayenne peppers whole (take the green stems off, but otherwise put it all in). This only takes a minute until the peppers actually lighten up in color before they darken. Put the peppers and the oil from the pan into a bowl.

6. Let people put their own amounts of anchovies and hot peppers on their plates with the cabbage (so serve this in three separate bowls).

Enjoy! It’s awesome!

Follow these instructions and making your own stock now can shave a few seconds and pennies off winter soups and stews.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Sharon S.

4:00PM PST on Feb 5, 2012

yes anchovies are a problem here too!

send a green star

Camila K.

11:43PM PST on Jan 29, 2011

sounds delicious! thank you!

Laura M.

7:59AM PST on Jan 28, 2011

It sounded terrific until you said, "anchovy" ... so I'll try it without anchovies and see what happens.

Eternal G.

2:25PM PST on Jan 24, 2011

Yum!

Trish K.

4:40PM PST on Jan 23, 2011

Thanks, but please hold the anchovies

Lika S.

10:17PM PST on Jan 1, 2011

Cabbage = covolo. But I'm sure since this is a type of dish, I don't know what the Italian name of it is.

Roger G.

12:05PM PST on Dec 28, 2010

wonderful recipe thanks !

Charuwan K.

10:26PM PST on Dec 27, 2010

It sounds good. Thank for the recipe. I'll try soon.

Mary S.

12:19PM PST on Dec 27, 2010

Thanks for the recipe. I am looking forward to trying it with my New Years brunch.

Much of Eastern Europe consider cabbage, in almost any form to be the perfect New Year's food. Not sure why but it is supposed to be good luck to eat cabbage on New Years day. I usually make home made cabbage filled pierogies. You just fry finely chopped cabbage (with or without onions and garlic) in butter until soft and lightly browned, use as a filling for pierogies or maybe ravioli. Yummy, better than the traditional potato and cheese.

Marti W.

5:09PM PST on Dec 26, 2010

Thanks will have to try..