Give carrots and peas a night off and serve these elegant and refined miso butter roasted cabbage wedges. Who said vegetables were boring?? Soft, buttery cabbage quarters are roasted to golden perfection and sprinkled with a crunchy panko crumb. Serve as a side with weeknight pasta or with a standout centrepiece.
Like this glorious minty and lemony roast leg of lamb. Complete the Easter table with crunchy-shelled and fluffy-centred perfect roast potatoes.
Oven roasted cabbage
If you find cabbage triggering, you’re not alone. Remembered as cabbage soup a lá Mrs Bucket, or boiled into obscurity by your grandma, it tends not to be the first choice of side dish.
However, these attractive and supremely tasty oven roasted cabbage wedges are about to put cabbage back on the map! Or menu.
Coming in all shapes, sizes and shades, I’ve picked out a pretty pointed one for this recipe. Pointed cabbages, or sweetheart (UK), or hispi if you’re in a fancy restaurant, are the perfect size for quartering and serving as a side dish to a party of four.
Simply, after cutting, and without removing the core for structure, brush all over with the miso butter. Then roast until the white centre turns amber and the outer leaves are pleasingly crispy. Finish with the lightly fried panko breadcrumbs.
While boiled cabbage is flaccid and endlessly unappealing, and raw cabbage is crunchy and peppery, roasted cabbage offers another flavour profile. It is nutty, buttery and sweet. And begging for a pasting of miso.
Miso sauce
Miso is an East Asian bean paste with additional fermented fungus. But don’t let that put you off! Let me explain why, besides the well-known health benefits of eating fermented foods, miso is such a brilliant seasoning and deserves a place in your kitchen.
There are 3 basic types of miso; white, yellow, red/ brown all slightly nuanced in varying levels of robustness. For this cabbage recipe, I’ve used red/ brown which is the saltiest and most assertive, but if you already have one of its pals, white or yellow, use it! You might just need a speck more.
There is nothing you can’t add miso to that won’t be elevated and intensified, from cheese sauces to chocolate brownies! But let’s leave those for another day.
This umami-flavoured condiment is smooth and rich and adds a moreish savouriness to food. Essentially, it is a natural flavour enhancer that sends tastebuds wild!
Thanks to its flavoursome nature, it is added to foods that might otherwise be deemed bland. Personally, I love cabbage and can appreciate the delicate and mild flavour of it. But a miso butter glaze takes it stratospheric.
If you’re sold on the idea, try a miso glazed aubergine or miso roasted carrots too.
Recipe tips and notes
- I recommend using a small one for this recipe for roasted cabbage wedges. I’ve used a pointed sweetheart variety, which can be sourced in most supermarkets. Not only do they look pretty and dainty, they are the sweetest tasting.
- If you can’t find one and have to go for a bigger, rounder cabbage, try a savoy. However, you will need to slice these into circular steaks so they are thin enough to cook through.
- The aim is for a slight char to the outer leaves, so don’t be alarmed on taking the cabbage out of the oven. This caramelly crunch is much desired!
- I’ve used brown (or red) miso paste, but whatever you have will work. No need to be too fussy about it.
- The breadcrumbs may not be essential to the recipe, but I cannot resist the added butter and golden crunchy crumb that tops this standout side.
Serving suggestions
This simply beautiful dish can be served as a stunning side or vegetarian main course. It will compliment almost any meat main dish but due to its unctuous and buttery nature, I think it goes best with something with a touch of acidity, i.e. lemon or mustard.
I would quite contentedly eat it with rib eye steak with Sicilian lemon herb sauce or veal piccata, both of which are laced with citrus. A leafy vegetable is light and easy-going against a rich and heavy red meat.
Or for a plant-based menu, serve alongside a mushroom Wellington or any vegetarian pasta dish, for example a saucy tomato-based Sicilian pasta alla norma.
Storage and leftovers
This meltingly delicious cabbage dish is best straight from the oven. However, any leftovers will keep, covered, for 3-5 days in the fridge.
Reheat low and slow in the oven. You’ll need to keep an eye on it if it’s already been topped with breadcrumbs as they will catch quickly!
More vegetable side dish recipes
- Air fryer baked potato
- Braised red cabbage
- Cauliflower gratin
- Roasted rainbow carrots with pistachios
Miso Butter Roasted Cabbage Wedges
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter divided
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- 1 sweetheart (hispi) cabbage cut into 4 wedges; pointed cabbage in the US
- ¼ cup Panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Cut the cabbage into quarters.
- Mix 2 tbsp of the softened butter with the miso paste and brush on the cabbage quarters all over, including the base. Place the cabbage wedges on a baking sheet and roast in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until charred on the outside and still slightly crispy.
- While the cabbage is roasting make the breadcrumbs. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a pan, then add the breadcrumbs and the garlic powder, toast while stirring continuously to avoid burning until golden, then remove from the pan immediately.
- Sprinkle the cabbage with the breadcrumbs before serving. You can also add chopped parsley if using.