This is an old recipe of my mother's, from Hungary.
One large green cabbage
One pound (dry) wide egg noodles
1/2 to one full stick (pound) of butter
Spices to taste (dill seed and caraway are good)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Boil the cabbage in water (you can cut it into manageable pieces first if you prefer) until it is so soft it mashes/flakes with a fork. This can take some time, over an hour.
Boil the egg noodles in water (add a bit of salt and cooking oil) until they are done. Slightly underdone is best. Time this so the cabbage is done at the same time or before the noodles.
Remove the cabbage from the water and drain to let the bulk of the water go. (Save the cabbage water for soup stock...when cool, put in a ziplock bag and then in the freezer.)
Put the cabbage back in the empty pot or a large bowl. Cut it into tiny pieces. Use any implement you want, but if a fork isn't doing the trick, the cabbage is undercooked.
When the cabbage is all in tiny little pieces, add the butter, spices, salt and pepper. Go easy on the spices, they will intensify later. Mix. Add the drained noodles and mix. Try to keep the noodles intact.
Okay, what you have now is a rather boring buttered cabbage pasta thing. You are wondering why in heck I recommended it to you. Well don't eat it, stick it in the fridge.
The next day you have this weird cabbage stuff with a bit of flavor to it. You can eat a little, but don't write me to say it's only so-so. Stick it back in the fridge.
Now it's the third day. It's yummy. Heat it up on the stove (each day you have some you can heat the whole potful). If there are any leftovers, stick them back in the fridge.
Fourth day...heaven.
(posted to rec.food.recipes 4/98)
