Roasted Cabbage with Walnuts and Parmesan
Cookbook author and blogger Deb Perelman, of Smitten Kitchen fame, loves this dish for many reasons. It’s a warm salad for cold weather. It’s Starter Cabbage for people who are cabbage suspect (savoy is lacier and less heavy than the white/red stuff). It’s a quick vegetable dish that’s not a salad or bland broccoli that her kids, by some rare miracle, agree to. With prep and even oven-warming, it takes exactly 20 minutes to make. And this humble dish can hold its own on your Thanksgiving table.
Deb says the recipe was inspired by one in the astoundingly good vegetable cookbook Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden. And the variations are endless: Sometimes she makes the dressing more complex by adding a minced anchovy or tablespoon of minced olives or capers. She has put the Parmesan on first and returned the baking sheet briefly to the oven to singe it a little bit. And Deb has also skipped the Parmesan because it’s really not doing the heavy lifting.
A note about selecting the cabbage: Don’t use a very big cabbage, which may be too dense inside to get nice and crispy without steaming first. Go with two small rather than one giant one.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium to large (1 3/4 lb./875 g) or 2 small heads savoy cabbage
- 7 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Scant 1/2 cup (1 3/4 oz./60 g) walnut halves and pieces
- 1 large lemon
- 1 large or 2 smaller garlic cloves
- Red pepper flakes, such as Aleppo (optional)
- Grated Parmesan cheese, to taste
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 475°F (245°C).
Remove any damaged outer leaves from the cabbage and cut it into 8 (for small ones) to 12 (for a large one) wedges. Coat a large baking sheet with 2 Tbs. of the olive oil. Arrange the cabbage wedges in one layer. Drizzle or brush them with 2 Tbs. of the olive oil, and sprinkle with 1 tsp. kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
Roast until the cabbage is charred underneath (don’t panic if you see a few thin black edges; they’re going to taste amazing), 8 to 10 minutes. Use a spatula to flip each piece over (a fish spatula works well) and roast until the edges of the cabbage are dark brown, about 5 minutes more.
While the cabbage roasts, place the walnuts on a smaller baking sheet or baking dish and roast them next to the cabbage for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove and scatter them, still hot, onto a cutting board and coarsely chop them. Scoop into a bowl and finely grate the zest of half the lemon and all of the garlic over it. Add the remaining 3 Tbs. olive oil to the walnuts, a few pinches of salt and red pepper flakes and stir to combine. If you’ve got a couple of minutes to let it all infuse as it cools, let it rest. When ready, squeeze in the juice of half the lemon and stir to combine. Adjust the flavors to taste, adding more lemon if needed; you want this dressing to be robust.
The moment the cabbage comes out of the oven, spoon the walnut dressing over the wedges. Grate Parmesan all over, to taste. Serve immediately, while piping hot. There will be no leftovers. Serves 2 to 4.
Recipe courtesy of Deb Perelman, cookbook author and founder of Smitten Kitchen
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