Roasted Cabbage with Smoked Pepper and Rosemary

Monday January 16th, 2023Monday January 16th, 2023 aglaia Leave a comment

At Nolan restaurant in Athens, I tasted a salad of deliciously ‘burned,’ caramelized winter vegetables –pieces of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli— dressed with a lovely Asian-inspired sauce. “Roasting cabbage wedges at high heat makes them crisp at the edges and tender in the middle,“ writes Melissa Clark in NYT Cooking.

Her recipe, the very first I encountered of roasted cabbage wedges –many have been published since– inspired me to try my version.

I omitted the anchovies and parmesan, but added both soy and fish sauce, as well as a large pinch of my favorite hot Florina smoked pepper, along with plenty of rosemary, which I think complements beautifully this Asian-Mediterranean roasted cabbage. Costas and I loved it, and we make it quite regularly these days.

It accompanies beautifully any kind of meat or chicken, but we also eat it with the wonderful olive-oil-fried eggs from our neighbor’s hens, and feta cheese.

Serves 3- 4 (more…)

Lahanoryzo: Cabbage Risotto

Thursday April 7th, 2022Sunday May 22nd, 2022 aglaia Leave a comment

With the last tender winter cabbages, as their leaves start to toughen, we love to make this traditional vegan Greek risotto. Costas prefers the version with tomato, although many people like it white, adding leek or chopped scallions, and of course plenty of lemon, and some dill at the end.

To make it substitute cabbage for the other greens in the recipe for Risotto with Greens.

Although I think that it tastes best piping hot, it could also be served at room temperature, as my husband likes it too.

Serves 3 as main course; 5-6 as a side dish (more…)

Cabbage Salad in Orange-vinegar Dressing

Wednesday November 17th, 2021Wednesday September 7th, 2022 aglaia Leave a comment

Cabbage is associated with winter in Greece. “You can’t have tender, sweet cabbage before the winter cold,” a farmer in Kea told me one October morning. The trick to turn almost any cabbage into a good salad is to “knead” the finely shredded leaves with salt and lemon juice. Here, instead of lemon a combination of orange and white ‘balsamic’ vinegar is used. The cabbage and carrots wilt and shrink, becoming juicy and delicious. A dressing based on this ‘marinade’ is wonderful with all kinds of salads (see variation).

I first tasted the cabbage and carrot salad at Ourania’s Tavern, on Samos island, and was fascinated. Ourania, the owner and cook, told us that the longer you leave the salad in the fridge, the better it gets; she was right, of course.

Adding fruity olive oil and maybe 1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard her ‘marinade’ becomes my go-to vinaigrette for all kinds of seasonal, mixed salads.

4 to 6 servings

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