Crispy Roasted Cabbage

I’ve never been too much of a fan of cabbage. It was always served sliced way too thickly in a very average coleslaw drenched in a thick creamy sauce and it just wasn’t my cup of tea. So when I was in Israel recently with Vibe Israel and I was served roasted cabbage during a cooking workshop we did in Jerusalem at the Mahane Yehuda Market with Tali Friedman. Definitely recommend looking Tali up - she has a new cookbook coming out and her food is stunning!

Anyway, I was kinda like ‘…thanks but nahhh’ but because Israelis are Israelis, they wouldn’t take no for an answer haha! Much like Italians! So I was there with this huge slice of roasted cabbage on my plate. It didn’t exactly look like the most appealing thing to eat but I proceeded to take a bite. Because god-forbid you have food left on your plate! :P

And I was pleasantly surprised. Actually I was beyond pleasantly surprised. I was shocked. Crispy roasted cabbage. What a revelation! If cabbage was always cooked like this, no one would ever refuse it! It was such a far-cry from thick raw slices in coleslaw. It was crunchy, and crispy and tender and soft in the middle and it had a slight hint of citrus and salt and was absolutely mouth-watering!

So I decided to make a version of that beautiful purple crispy roasted cabbage with a couple of simple additions as toppings to make this cabbage the star of the show on your dinner table tonight or as a simple warm salad at your next dinner party or BBQ.

I hope you guys love eating cabbage this way, I am absolutely obsessed with it!! So as always, happy cooking and let me know how you go!

Mel x

Crispy Roasted Cabbage

Serves a few as a side

Ingredients:

1 small purple cabbage

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper to season

1/2 cup blanched almonds, roasted

2 tbs dried dill

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup continental parlsey, finely chopped

Method:

Place a large pot of water on high heat until it boils. Don't overfill the pot because you need to add cabbage.

Slice your cabbage in half and place into the boiling water and reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 30 minutes, until cabbage is tender.

In the meantime, preheat oven to 170C fan-forced.

Then place roasted blanched almonds, dried dill, dried cranberries and parsley into a bowl and combine.

Once the cabbage is tender, carefully take the halves out of the water with tongs, let the water run out of the each half then place onto a lined baking tray, with the intersection of the cabbage facing up.

Generously drizzle with extra virgin olive oil then season well with salt and pepper and bake for 1 hour until browned and crispy.

Serve on a large plate and top with almond herb topping, then squeeze over lemon juice. Serve warm.

*you can bake cabbage for longer than an hour until you get the crispiness you're after :)

I was hosted in Israel by Vibe Israel and had the most incredible time ever!