Enjoy the ‘virtuous’ cabbage with Asian crunch salad

Even though there’s no zucchini on the menu at the next Charlotte Senior Center Monday Munch, this seems an apt time to give a tip of the hat to zucchini, the vegetable described by “The Almanac” as “staggeringly productive.”

Louise Penny offers evidence of zucchini abundance in “Still Life,” the first book in her series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec, just south of Montreal: The only reason doors were locked was to prevent neighbors from dropping off baskets of zucchini.

On Aug. 26, instead of zucchini, volunteer cooks at the Charlotte Senior Center will offer Asian crunch salad, along with chicken thighs and brownies with whipped cream.

Part of the crunch in that salad comes from two kinds of cabbage. Note the title of Wall Street Journal writer Judith Valente’s column: “The Virtuous Cabbage.” Valente pointed out that this virtuous vegetable was “particularly friendless.” The Department of Agriculture collected information on everything from asparagus to zucchini — but didn’t bother with cabbage.

A department statistician told her there was “just no lobby” for cabbage.

Valente then quoted the American Cancer Society’s recommendation of all the good things cabbage contains — rich in vitamin C, fiber and vitamin K. Current research suggests that cabbage also supports digestion and heart health. So, enjoy a “virtuous” salad at Monday Munch.

Clearly, Thomas Jefferson was onto something. Although he did not retire from political life until 1809, in 1792 he anticipated leaving, writing his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph, “The ensuing year will be the longest of my life and the last of such hateful labors; the next we will sow our cabbages together.”

Valente noted many ways cabbage “tries so hard to please” — it’s cheap, it isn’t as prone to wilt as lettuce. She concludes, “Score one for a head of cabbage in the hands of a good cook.”

The very good volunteer cooks at the Charlotte Senior Center will bring you Asian crunch salad, which contains both green and purple cabbages, along with carrots, green onions, endame, toasted almonds and sesame seeds, dressed with a soy and honey vinaigrette.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest just sent out its Good Foods Calendar 2025, and January starts the year with an eye-catching, full-page picture of a red cabbage with the notation: “a simple but stunning addition to your next salad.”

The first entry in The New York Times brownies “search” starts out, “There are many kinds.” Then, after a recipe for Katherine Hepburn’s brownies appeared, various letter writers argued over whether she would have approved of using “an ingredient as anemic as cocoa” in her brownies recipe. In our current political season, certainly it would be a great relief to argue about what is a suitable brownie ingredient.

The newspaper of record gives instructions for baking brownies with chocolate or cocoa and then moves on to Nutella, coffee, cardamon, pecan pie filling, coconut, peppermint, red beets, salted pretzels, crème de menthe, peanut butter, stout beer, tahini, gingerbread, caramel, marshmallows, Oreos and lots more. I don’t claim to have gone through all 5,270 entries on brownies.

A widely accepted brownie origin story credits its invention with the chefs at Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel for the 1893 World Columbian Exhibition, site of considerable culinary innovation. Hotel owner Potter Palmer’s wife Bertha was asked to design a dessert for the ladies attending the exhibition. She asked the hotel’s pastry chefs to create a dessert smaller than a cake and more convenient to eat than slice of pie. They came up with a dessert made of chocolate, walnuts and apricot sauce they named brownies.

In 1897, the Sears and Roebuck catalog included brownies.

A popular American bakery in Kreuzberg, Germany was credited with bringing “der brauny” to the city, but the baker said that the frustrating thing about serving brownies to Germans is that “they insist on eating them with a fork.” I would note that we carry a fork in the car.

On brownies, Augusten Burroughs, who describes his horrific childhood in “Running with Scissors,” observes, “You would be amazed by what you can give up, lose, or break, and yet still be a person who gets happy over brownies.”

Charles M. Schulz of Charlie Brown fame concluded, “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”

Aug. 26
Monday Munch, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Marinated chicken thighs, Asian crunch salad and brownies with whipped cream.

Reminder: There will be no Monday Munch on Sept. 2. The senior center is closed for Labor Day.

Reminder 2: The Little Free Library for Kids at the Grange (2858 Spear Street), sponsored by the Charlotte Senior Center board and the Flying Pig Book Store, with help from Cindi Robinson, whose son built the structure, is bulging with books. Every child can find something special in this wide selection. Take a child you care about over there to choose one.