Roasted cabbage salad with garlic-chipotle vinaigrette

I didn’t realize it until this week, but when you buy one head of cabbage, you’re gonna be eating cabbage for awhile.

One head of purple cabbage gave me and Crayton four days worth of meals. We had cabbage curry on Sunday night, whereupon I put a wee bit too much chili powder, causing Crayton to cough and sputter, “I can’t breathe.” (He was fine in the end.)

The cabbage continued into the next day, with leftovers for lunch and roasted cabbage salad with asparagus for dinner. Then came more leftovers for lunch the next day. And roasted cabbage salad with carrots for dinner that night.

I finished the final leftovers yesterday and was kind of surprised my skin hadn’t turned purple.

So yes: roasted cabbage. It’s so good you actually can eat it several days in a row, without feeling bored or wishing that the infernal cabbage would just disappear.

Although I came up with the roasting idea myself (thought process = roasted veggies with raw cabbage… roasted veggies with roasted cabbage, whoa), other Internet food bloggers love roasted cabbage, too. “Gets rid of cabbage funk,” says The Kitchn, in its drool-worthy recipe for roasted cabbage with bacon. “If you like cabbage at all, I’m guessing you’ll love it,” wrote Kalyn of Kaylyn’s Kitchen. There’s really no excuse not to roast cabbage. Especially when you’ve got so darn much of it.

Because roasting any veg brings out its naturally sweet notes, I decided to pair this salad with a spicy dressing. Had a lot of garlic sitting around, so garlic and chipotle seemed like a natural choice. I turned to Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday to make sure I had my salad dressing proportions right.

The result — crunchy, toasty cabbage drizzled with a sweet, garlicky, spicy vinaigrette — was pretty darn fantastic. In fact, I might even say that the dressing made the whole dish. Crayton specifically mentioned how good it was. Guess he’d forgotten about the chili-powder incident.

Recipe is below, in case you ever find yourself with a gigantic head of cabbage and no where to turn.

Roasted Cabbage Salad with Garlic-Chipotle Vinaigrette
Serves 4 (and you will have leftover cabbage)

Note: I made this salad twice — once with roasted asparagus, and another time with roasted carrots and caramelized onions. Both tasted equally as good. Next time, if I had both in my fridge same time, I’d combine everything for a cabbage-carrot-asparagus-onion wonder. I added roasted chicken just because I was craving some protein, but it’s not absolutely necessary. The chipotle lends a nice smokiness to the dish; you can amplify that with the addition of diced bacon or pancetta.

Lastly, I made this salad with purple cabbage because that’s what the grocery store had on hand; there’s no reason you couldn’t make it with regular cabbage.

For easy instructions on how to slice the cabbage for roasting, visit Kalyn’s Kitchen, which I also linked to above. Really, though, there aren’t any set rules on how to cut it. It just roasts more evenly when the leaves stay together — the last thing you want is small bits of burned cabbage in your oven.

Ingredients

For the salad:
2/3 head cabbage (enough for around eight triangular-shaped wedges, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick)
olive or avocado oil for roasting
salt
Juice of one lime
1 bunch asparagus (if you want to roast carrots, check out my instructions here)

For the dressing:
1 elephant garlic clove, unpeeled (or about 1 oz/25 grams worth of unpeeled garlic cloves)
1 teaspoon chopped chipotle en adobo
3/4 cup olive, vegetable or avocado oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
salt to taste

Method

Holding the cabbage right side up, from pole to pole, cut two thick slices of cabbage about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. Cut each circular slice in half, and then into quarters. Feel free to cut more cabbage, if you don’t think this is enough. (I have a tiny oven so this is all I can fit on my baking sheet.) Lay your cabbage on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt. Turn over and repeat.

If you have a large oven, you can roast the asparagus at the same time. Cut the stems woody ends, and drizzle the asparagus with oil and salt. Bake both items at 450 degrees or 230 Celsius. The asparagus will probably cook faster than the cabbage, so keep an eye on it and stir it once. The asparagus is done when the stems have turned a slightly dark-golden brown with blackened spots, and they look vaguely wrinkly. The asparagus will continue to cook when you take it out of the oven, so don’t overcook it.

As for the cabbage: turn the wedges once. They’re done when they have softened slightly and are blackened at the edges. Remove to a serving bowl and toss with the juice of one lime. Note: If you don’t have a large oven (like me!), roast the asparagus when you’re done with the cabbage. And then give a large, heaving sigh.

While the veggies are a-roastin’, prepare your dressing. Toast your unpeeled garlic clove in a dry skillet, until blackened spots appear on all sides. (This took me about 20 minutes, because my clove was so large.) When it’s done, set it aside to cool. Carefully peel it and chop roughly. Place garlic, chipotle, oil and vinegar in a blender jar, and blend until smooth. Pour into an airtight container and add salt to taste. Store in the fridge when you’re not using it.

To serve: Place some cabbage leaves on a plate, and top with asparagus and grilled chicken, if you so desire. Spoon the garlic vinaigrette on top.