I've gone through my attic and dug out my cookbooks. How I've lived in this house for a month without my cookbooks I'll never know, but it helps to explain why I've been feeling so low for the past several weeks. I haven't been cooking - not really. Not like I like to.

I always find it amusing that the Slow Food movement is so trendy right now - but all it really stands for is cooking your food from scratch. That's how my mom taught me to do it.

But I digress! In my cookbook box I pulled out Please to the Table, the best Russian cookbook in the world.

In the spirit of promoting the consumption of GREENS, as I mentioned in my last blog (and yes the breakfast collards were very good, thank you very much, although I burnt the first batch of sauteed garlic and now my house stinks to high heaven), I will focus this blog entry on Russian cabbage recipes. Well, maybe the next 2 entries. Cabbage is really big in Russia probably because it's a cold weather vegetable, it keeps well, and it's very diverse.

Please to the Table is wonderful in that it travels beyond Moscow to the various regions and ethnicities of Russia. Russian food isn't all borscht and piroshki (as delicious as those 2 things are). Each region, like in most countries, has its own unique flavor.

Here's a brilliant recipe for Cabbage Baked with Feta. The authors of Please to the Table (Anya Bremzen and John Welchman) tell us it originally came from a Moldavian cookbook. I also found this recipe at Massrecipes.com. (Did you know that recipes are not copyrighted? At least not the ingredients and the directions).

I am going to make this recipe when my parents (both vegetarians) come over for dinner. They will love it, as will I. My husband and children will not. Oh well.

In any case, here it is:

1 firm head green cabbage, cored and finely slivered
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh dill
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 and 1/3 cups finely crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 to 2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil. Blanch the cabbage for 2 minutes, then drain and transfer to a kitchen towel. Pat dry.

Heat a large skillet over a medium flame. Add 3 tablespoons butter and the oil. Add the cabbage and saut, stirring frequently, until the cabbage is nicely browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Set the cabbage aside until cool.

While the cabbage cools, in a small bowl whisk together the sour cream and eggs. Add the sour-cream mixture to the cabbage and mix well. Add the dill, salt and pepper and mix again. Transfer the cabbage mixture to a medium casserole or baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the feta cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle the
cheese mixture over the cabbage. Sprinkle paprika over the cheese and bread crumbs.

Melt the remaining butter and pour it evenly over the cabbage. Bake until bubbly and lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.