Trying to follow a lower-carb, more plant-forward diet is a daily struggle for a meat- and carb-loving girl like me. Trying to keep easy veggies around, especially for quick lunches or simple weeknight suppers, and not just fall into the endless salad trap requires some thought. But this summer, slow roasted whole cabbage is saving my life.
On the surface, this seems like some weird diet fad from the 1970s. Who on earth is eating whole roasted cabbages? But it isn’t necessarily about eating the whole cabbage, but rather, about having it around to become an endless series of other things.
Cooking dinner shouldn't be complicated
Read more: Our Best Cabbage Recipes
The basics could not be simpler. Take one whole cabbage—I use regular old green, but feel free to go red or even Savoy if you are feeling fancy. Put it on a sheet pan and pop it in a 300-degree oven for about 3 hours until the outer leaves have gone brown and a knife pierces the core easily. Remove from the oven, let cool a bit until you can handle it, and peel off the few dark outer leaves. Then let it cool at room temp completely, put it in a Ziploc bag and stash in your fridge for up to five days.
Here’s what I do with it:
- Slice into wedges, leaving some core intact to hold the wedges together, and either grill or pan-fry to get some color on them, and serve hot with a drizzle of butter or olive oil and squeeze of lemon, or a punchy herb salsa verde.
- Shred into a cooked slaw and dress with a light vinaigrette and toss with toasted almond slivers and fresh grated carrot.
- Chop coarsely and garnish with a Japanese-style sesame dressing, like for Go-mae, and serve chilled.
- Chop finely and make cabbage fried rice.
- Cut into large chunks and put underneath a spatchcocked chicken while roasting, to soak up all the chicken fat and juices and brown and melt a bit under the chicken.
- Slice and layer with fresh sliced tomatoes and thin sliced onions and bake in a 350 oven for 40 minutes with a toasted buttered breadcrumb topping for a great fast side dish.
- Chop and pan fry with potatoes for a riff on a classic bubble and squeak.
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