Baby bok choy has no competition for the title of Cutest Cabbage. Milder than its more mature counterpart, the young bok choy is suitable for braising, stir-frying, grilling or steaming. Sliced thin and added just before serving, it adds nutrition and texture to a winter soup. Rich in sulfur-containing phytonutrients, bok choy is related to cabbage, a cruciferous family that all contain those cancer-fighting compounds. Hung Vuong Supermarket at 11th and Washington has a diverse fresh produce section, and usually stocks bags of the petite cabbage for around two dollars.

A quick steam is all that is needed to preserve bok choy’s mild flavor and appealing crunch, while a dressing that utilizes every part of the grapefruit — zest, flesh and juice — adds an acidic spark and pretty color contrast to the vegetable. Wash your grapefruits thoroughly with hot water and some vigorous friction to remove any wax or residual pesticide on the skin before zesting. A microplane or similar small rasp makes zesting about 5 million percent easier. Get one.

Recipe after the jump.

Steamed Baby Bok Choy with Grapefruit Vinaigrette

Go Get This:

1 lb. of baby bok choy heads

3 ruby red grapefruits (two for sectioning, one for juicing)

1/2 cup mild flavored oil, like grapeseed or flax

sea salt to taste

pinch black pepper

Now Do This:

1 Thoroughly wash grapefruits and baby bok choys. Drain.

2 Zest one grapefruit completely, taking care to leave the white, bitter pith behind. Reserve zest.

3 Section two grapefruits. Slice off the stem end in order to create a flat surface for the grapefruit to stand on, and slice off the remainder of the skin and pith with a sharp serrated knife.

4 Holding the fruit in your non-dominant hand, cut out sections of the grapefruit over a bowl to catch all the juice. Reserve the sections in their juice. Squeeze the crap out of the grapefruit skeleton to get out any remaining juice.

5 Completely juice the third grapefruit and add to your reserved sections. If you don’t have 1 cup of juice, add bottled grapefruit juice to make 1 cup.

6 Whisk together the grapefruit juice, zest, grapeseed oil, sea salt and black pepper and reserve. Taste and adjust seasoning.

7 Pour two inches of water into a pot with a steamer lid, or if you don’t have a steaming pot, stick an all-metal colander into a pot with an inch of water and lid tightly.

8 Slice each baby bok choy lengthwise and place in the pot. Once the water is boiling, steam for just a minute or two — bok choys should still be crisp and bright green.

9 Dress the bok choy with the grapefruit vinaigrette and serve warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled. Strew grapefruit sections on top of bok choy for a pretty garnish.

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