The 4-Ingredient Dinner I Make Once a Week (For Bonkers Weeknights)

We have a home on Cape Cod that we visit from time to time and to describe it as spartan would be incredibly generous. As a chef, the kitchen is a nightmare. The knives are terrible, the pans are an abomination, and the fridge is shockingly empty. 

When we go up for a longer stretch, we’ll stock the pantry and fridge with just enough food to get by. Not only do I hate to waste food, leaving trash behind isn’t an option, and riding home with a bag of garbage is not a pleasant way to spend four hours in traffic.

When we are there just for a long weekend, I like to challenge myself to buy just enough food to get by for our stay. It’s like my very own version of Chopped, except my kids are the judges. Scary! 

One recent weekend while we were there, I opened my fridge to find a sad head of cabbage left over from a visit to one of our favorite local farms. I also found some butter that needed to be used up and a generous hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano. I scrounged through the pantry and uncovered some spaghetti and knew just what to make: caramelized cabbage spaghetti. 

A Family Meal Everyone Can Love

Cabbage is the type of vegetable I can always feed my kids. When cooked for a long time, it gets extra sweet and doesn’t send out any green vegetable red flags; it blends seamlessly into the spaghetti. 

Inspired by a family favorite, Deb Pearlman’s Zucchini Butter Spaghetti, this pasta dish has become a go-to weeknight pasta dish for those evenings when I don’t know what to cook. It’s super quick, only requires a handful of ingredients, is packed with vegetables, and everyone will eat it. What more could you ask for?

Simple Tweaks to This Recipe

I’ve used this same recipe with lots of pasta shapes, but my kids prefer spaghetti. Feel free to swap it for whatever shape you have on hand. I like using green cabbage, but any head of cabbage you need to use up will work well. Just make sure to shred it thinly and cook it until it is super caramelized and sweet! (Note that red cabbage will turn the pasta an interesting color.)

If I’m feeling fancy, I will crisp up about two ounces of bacon or pancetta in the pan first and use the fat in place of some of the butter to caramelize the cabbage. Then I’ll top the pasta with the crisp pork before serving.