I met Tina the first week of high school, 1971. In those early days of getting to know one another I was intrigued — and somewhat overwhelmed — by her lively Macedonian family. Hers was a house that pulsed life. And though I couldn’t converse in her mother tongue, I could crib the topics of conversation through the animated body language of the orators. Loud string-plucked Calgija folk music played on the turntable and Turkish tobacco scented the air. The hypnotic aroma of faraway spices melded into peasant dishes in blacken pots on the back burner or slow braised with meat in the oven. These touch stones of life tethered her family to their homeland and it made me long to be adopted into this vibrant cocoon.

The most indelible memory I have of this place in time is of Tina’s mother rolling her homemade phyllo dough out on the kitchen table so thinly that I could see the paisley patterned plastic tablecloth beneath and — because Tina showed little interest in cooking — Mrs. Z teaching me how to make cabbage mangia and what I phonetically called “skool-do-le-a” which is Macedonia’s version of France’s ratatouille.

Here’s my version of Mrs. Z’s cabbage mangia. Enjoy!

Cabbage Mangia (serves 6)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ pounds boneless pork butt, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 large cooking (yellow) onion, halved, then thinly sliced

1 Knorr chicken cube

1 (5.5 oz) can tomato paste

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon EACH dried vegetable seasoning, Greek oregano, and parsley flakes

1 teaspoon EACH kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

½ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

3 bay leaves

1 head green cabbage, quartered, cored, and thinly sliced

• In a large heavy bottomed Dutch oven set over medium heat, add oil.

• Add pork, in batches if necessary, and brown on all sides.

• Add onion and continue cooking for 5 minutes.

• Add chicken cube, tomato paste, garlic, dried vegetable seasoning, oregano, parsley flakes, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until pork is well coated with tomato paste, about 5 minutes more.

• Add bay leaves, and then top with sliced cabbage. The cabbage will probably come right to the top of the pot.

• Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes to ensure cabbage cooks evenly. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Whispers from the kitchen:

• Don’t fret that there’s no added liquid in this recipe. Cabbage is mostly made of water and as it cooks down it will meld with the tomato paste and make its own sauce.

• I serve cabbage mangia with low fat sour cream.