In my self-appointed quest to prove that everything tastes better roasted, I’ve been roasting pans of vegetables in the oven on a regular basis. We all know what roasting does for asparagus, squash, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, not to mention everyone’s favorite chip, kale. But what about cabbage?
I often include chunks of cabbage in a pan of roasted vegetables and have always enjoyed the crispy edges most of all. Last week I roasted 1-inch chunks of savoy cabbage (in a single layer), sprayed with a little olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. I roasted it at 400 degrees, turning it a couple times as it roasted to make sure all the surfaces got nicely browned. Each time I removed the pan from the oven, I’d grab a couple pieces of crisping savoy, ostensibly to “test for doneness.” By the time the thicker sections were tender, half of the pan had disappeared. It was that good.
Yesterday I roasted another head of savoy. This time, I removed the thickest part of the core and then sliced the cabbage like a loaf of bread into 1/4-inch thick slices and arranged the slices in a single layer on 2 baking sheets. After spraying lightly with olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper, I roasted it at 400 degrees for what was about 30 minutes total. During that time, I rotated the pans a couple times and also flipped the round slices of cross-sectioned cabbage. Some of the darker green leaves had disengaged from the rounds and were crisping up ahead of the thicker slices. These dark roasted savoy leaves were much like kale chips. As I rotated the pans, I removed those crisped leaves, leaving the round slices to finish roasting. As you can see in the photo above, the results were a nice variety of crispy dark green savoy chips and ribbons, as well as nicely roasted rounds of pale green cabbage. While enjoying the crispy leaves as a snack, I served the round savoy slices with dinner topped with a luscious lemon-cannelini sauce. Speaking of lemon-cannelini sauce….
My recipe for Roasted Vegetables with Lemon-Cannelini Sauce can be found on One Green Planet. Here’s a photo of those vegetables before roasting:
Here they are again after roasting:
And here is a serving of the roasted vegetables topped with the Lemon-Cannelini Sauce. Be sure to check out the recipe on OneGreenPlanet.
A final note: The time and temperature at which you roast vegetables can vary with your own preferences. When you roast at a higher temperature, it will require less cooking time, but you’ll need to be vigilant in watching so your vegetables don’t burn. If you roast at a slightly lower temperature, the vegetables will take longer, but you won’t need to watch them as closely. If I’m roasting something delicate like kale leaves, I generally roast them at 350 degrees. For thicker vegetables, such as squash or Brussels sprouts, I usually go with a 400 or 425 degree oven. In any case, you’ll want to turn the vegetables at least once during roasting so that they cook and brown evenly.
