Cabbage Cheese.
I am a big fan of cauliflower cheese but my husband, Matt, despises cauliflower. We came up this recipe as an alternative and oh baby, it’s good. Like, really, really good. If you are vegetarian, you can easily swap the parmesan for a vegetarian ‘hard cheese’ alternative (like this one|)
The cheese sauce is a play on a parmesan cream sauce: We start by making a white wine reduction, infused with parmesan rinds, to achieve a tangy, cheesy flavour. Then we add the cream and stock, and infuse everything with bay, garlic & nutmeg. It’s a bit of extra effort with a huge pay-off, but if this is all too much then you could absolutely make a classic mornay sauce (béchamel with cheese) instead and it would still be delicious.
Serves 4
Ingredients.
1 pointed/hispi cabbage, cut into 4 lengthways
2 tbsp oil
Salt, to taste
150ml white wine
2 parmesan rinds, or more if you have them
300ml double cream
2 bay leaves
3-4 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp black pepper
100ml vegetable stock
60g grated parmesan, plus extra for the top (see below)
Topping:
4-5 heaped tbsp breadcrumbs, enough to cover the dish
50g grated cheddar & parmesan
Equipment.
oven dish
small saucepan
sieve
Method.
Preheat the oven to 200c
Place the cabbage quarters in the oven dish and rub generously with salt and oil. Place in the hot oven for around 35mins until nicely charred and nearly cooked. Arrange them top-to-toe to better fit the dish, if needed
Meanwhile, add the white wine and parmesan rinds to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the wine to approximately 1/3 of it’s volume. This will take around 10mins on a vigorous simmer
Add the cream, stock, bay leaves, whole garlic cloves and nutmeg to the saucepan and bring back to a simmer. Turn the heat off and leave to infuse for 15-20mins
Strain the sauce and return to the saucepan, stirring in the grated paremsan over a low heat until melted. Check the sauce for seasoning
Pour the sauce over the cabbage, pushing the ends of the cabbage down into the sauce. Cover with the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs, and return to the over for another 20mins, or until golden, crisp and bubbling
