Crispy Roasted Cabbage and Whole Roasted Onion with Crème Fraîche

The title of this post may be confusing. I do not mean Roasted Cabbage and Onion. As in, the two in the same dish. No I mean Roasted Cabbage. One recipe. And Roasted Onion. Second recipe. I promised a vegetable post way back here and now I’m giving it to you in a double dosage.

You’ve already heard me profess my love for Melissa Clark, who brings us this cabbage recipe, about a million times. I’ll spare you this once and simply say, try this cabbage recipe. That’s right, I’m telling you to cook cabbage after St. Patrick’s Day. With good reason though, because this cabbage is not your typically mushy, flavorless, slapped on a plate next to corned beef cabbage. This cabbage, as its title would suggest, maintains a crisp texture that would lend itself nicely to a warm salad (bacon, blue cheese, and apple anyone?). It’s flavor though – smoky from the browned outer leaves yet ever so sweet from the roasting – makes this cabbage a side dish that could easily stand on its own.

But enough about cabbage. Since I’ve promised not to rave about Melissa Clark, I’ll rave about Andrea Reusing and her cookbook, Cooking in the Moment instead. Reusing emphasizes local, seasonal cooking drawing on her experience as a home cook and as chef-owner of North Carolina’s Lantern. Divided into seasons, the book walks us through the year dwelling on asparagus and mushrooms in the spring, cherries and tomatoes in the summer, sweet potatoes and apples in the fall, and citrus and root vegetables in the winter.

For meat lovers out there, never fear. The cookbook is far from deplete of animal based dishes. Hen and dumplings, carnitas, roasted spareribs, hard-cider braised pork shoulder. Those are even calling my minimal meat eating self’s name. Meat or no meat, Reusing’s recipes are accessible, using relatively few ingredients and manageable techniques. In her words, “Some are so simple that they don’t really qualify as recipes, and that is the point.” This whole roasted onion is proof of just that.

The long roasting process leaves the onion sweet and juicy. While I ate mine with just a dollop of crème fraîche, it would also be delicious served alongside roasted root vegetables or on a baguette drizzled with balsamic or olive oil. Oh, the possibilities!

On the topic of local food, I went to the Good Food Festival this week put on by Family Farmed. I ate my body weight in food from exhibitors like Local Folks Food, Mama’s Nuts, Ruth and Phil’s Ice Cream, Uptown Soda Bread Co., and Nordic Creamery. A list of all the vendors present is on the Good Food Festival website. There were also loads of workshops and panels, a list of which is also available on the website. Check it out next year. Your stomach (and the local food industry!) will thank you.

Crispy Roasted Cabbage

from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark

This recipe serves 4 to 6. However, if you are cooking for just one (like me!), cut the cabbage in quarters. Core one of the quarters, slice, and roast according to the directions below. Return the other three quarters to refrigerator. Cabbage can keep for weeks in the fridge and even longer if you occasionally spray it with water.

In addition to eating this cabbage as a side to corned beef, Clark suggests eating it in an all-vegetable meal with brown rice and fried tofu croutons, as a side dish for roast chicken, under a dollop of sour cream of yogurt and showered with dill, or accompanied by toasted brown bread slathered in butter. I recently tossed a healthy amount on top of a cheese pizza.

Serves 4 to 6 

1 pound green cabbage, cored

Olive or peanut oil, for brushing

Pinch kosher salt

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the cabbage into 1 inch thick slices. Brush the slices with olive oil and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Try to keep the pieces from falling apart (though it they do start to separate that is ok). Sprinkle the cabbage with a generous seasoning of salt. Roast, turning once, until crispy and browned, 25 to 30 minutes. If using cheese, sprinkle on top during the last 10 minutes of roasting.

Whole Roasted Onion

from Cooking in the Moment by Andrea Reusing

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Roast whole, upeeled onions on a baking sheet for an hour or longer, until the skins are deep golden brown and blistered and the flesh is very tender throughout when pierced with a sharp knife. To serve, make a slit across the top of each onion with a sharp knife and insert a big pat of butter or spoonful of crème fraîche. Serve with salt at the table.

Crème Fraîche

from Cooking in the Moment by Andrea Reusing

In a bowl, whisk together 1 part buttermilk with 8 parts non-ultra-pasteurized (and preferably non-homogenized) heavy cream. Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap, and leave it out on the counter for 24 to 48 hours until it thickens. Whisk again before storing, tightly covered, in the refrigerator, where it will keep for several weeks; it gets thicker and more delicious as it ages. Crème Fraîche has a higher fat content than commercial sour cream and so can be heated without breaking.