Recipe for New England Ladies Cabbage

Instructions: The first English settlers brought cabbage seeds to Plymouth, and they soon discovered that this was one vegetable that flourished in the New England climate. At first the colonists just ate it boiled, English style, but later they learned from the Dutch how to turn cabbage into sauerkraut and coleslaw.

Another old New England refinement was this delicate, flanlike cabbage custard known as ladies cabbage, presumably because it was a rather elegant and genteel way of preparing a common, everyday sort of vegetable.

4 cups sliced or chopped green cabbage (about 1 pound) (see note)

2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, sliced
2 eggs
2/3 cup half-and-half or light cream
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Cook the cabbage in a large pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Drain in a colander and press out as much of the water as possible.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 inch-square baking dish and place the cooked cabbage in it. Melt the butter in a medium-sized skillet. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape the onion into the baking dish with the cabbage. (The vegetables can be prepared several hours ahead and refrigerated.)

Whisk the eggs until blended in a mixing bowl. Whisk in half-and-half, sugar, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Pour the egg mixture over the cabbage mixture and stir gently but thoroughly to combine ingredients evenly. Place the baking dish

In a larger shallow roasting pan and pour into the roasting pan enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake, uncovered, until the custard is completely set, 25 to 30
minutes. Serve hot or warm, directly from the baking dish.

Note: You can use
the precut cabbage sold in bags in the produce department.