Oven Roasted Cheesy Cabbage

Oven Roasted Cheesy Cabbage: a great side dish that can be also eaten as a main vegetarian plate. Try it, you may even get your children to eat it. The crispy cheesy top and the mix of cabbage and tomato can be the ticket to a wonderful meal!

Song of the day: "Live is Life" by Opus.

[This post was first published on April 17, 2015]

Oven Roasted Cheesy Cabbage. Do you love your cabbage? Well, I have a dish for you that takes this vegetable to the next level. Nice quarters of blanched cabbage combined in a baking dish with crushed tomatoes, paprika, carrots, celery, onions, and mushrooms, not to mention melted cheese. The end result in one word is: crispy!

Cabbage is not a dirty word!

I am sure most of you can remember way back when you heard cabbage and our noses would turn. It is for the poor and what they serve at the orphanages, plus it smells. However, today cabbage has become a real staple in the winter months and chefs and cooks alike are using it more often than not. For me, I love it whether in a slaw or steamed with potatoes, all the more, I sauté it in onions, butter, and perogies and that my friends, is pure deliciousness!

History 101

Cabbage has been farmed for over 4000 years and has been used in domestic kitchens for approximately 2500 years. It is said that cabbage was mostly connected to the Celtic culture, and they brought it from Asia about 600 BC.

More so, very popular in cold climate zones, as its yields are high, and store very well in the winter months. Cabbage has many benefits including weight loss (low in calories), brain food, helps with hair, nail, and skin, detoxifies the body, is anti-cancerous, helps with high blood pressure, a warm compress made with cabbage leaves is supposed to relieve headaches, and double as an anti-inflammatory!

Did you know it is also supposed to relieve hangovers? It would have been good to know in those younger years! 

Adding dimension to ordinary!

Cooking has really grown in popularity and creativity. Today's dish Oven Roasted Cheesy Cabbage is an example of that phenomenon!  This dish requires very little time, furthermore, it is inexpensive, and needs very few ingredients. Better, it may even get those fussy children to eat some veggies. Always a bonus in my eyes!

Components of the dish:

• green cabbage
• the mighty trio: carrots, onions, celery
•  mushrooms
• Parmigiano and Asiago cheese
• paprika
• olive oil and butter

Starting the process:

• Firstly we have to cut the cabbage into quarters or wedges. Then into a pot of boiling water to get cooked a bit.
• Secondly, we take the cabbage out of the pot and let drain. It then goes into a baking dish that has been drizzled with evo oil.
• Thirdly, in a sauté pan,  cook the celery, carrots, onions, and mushrooms in olive oil/butter until softened. This can be done while the cabbage is boiling. Then we sprinkle this over the cabbage in the baking dish

Getting ready for the oven

• We are almost ready to put our dish in the oven which we have to preheat so it's nice and hot. While the oven is heating up we put the finishing touches on the dish starting with salt, pepper, and paprika.
• Likewise spooning some crushed tomatoes and a good sprinkling of grated Parmigiano and finally some grated Asiago cheese.
• A quick drizzle of olive oil and into the oven it goes. Keep an eye on it, because we want to see that top and edges get all crisped up!

The aroma is everything!

For me, when something smells delicious, it's gotta be delicious. From the aroma in the kitchen, I can only say my taste buds are salivating. Between melting cheese, tomato sauce, paprika, and those nice crispy bits that are forming on the cabbage, it tells me there is going to be an amazing texture and flavor end result!

A thing of foodie beauty!

Take a look at this. I absolutely love melted crispy cheese. You will usually find me scraping the pan for those caramelized bits. They taste so so good! There is a thing of beauty when you have cabbage that is soft inside that it just melts in your mouth, and then that accompanies crisp charred edges, gooey crispy cheese. alongside that mirepoix. The real surprise element is those mushrooms. Meaty, plump, and oh so juicy. A very welcomed texture and flavor to the mix.

Worth a try!

This Oven Roasted Cheesy Cabbage has everything you would want in a wonderful vegetarian meal. However, it can also be a great side dish to fish, beef, pork, or chicken, for that matter. You may even entice the kids to eat some veggies. Nicoletta loves her vegetarian dishes, at first, she was a bit unsure about what I was creating, however at dinner seeing her fork go in for more told me she really enjoyed the meal, a definite bonus for me! 

Give this a try, I am sure it won't disappoint!

Enjoy!

Oven Roasted Cheesy Cabbage

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★★★★★

5 from 8 reviews

• Author: Loreto
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: Serves 2-4 people 1x

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Description

Oven Roasted Cheesy Cabbage. Do you love your cabbage? Well, I have a dish for you that takes this vegetable to the next level. Nice quarters of blanched cabbage combined in a baking dish with crushed tomatoes, paprika, carrots, celery, onions, and mushrooms, not to mention melted cheese. The end result in one word is: crispy!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 medium-size green cabbage
• ½ cup crushed tomato or tomato puree
• 1 carrot chopped
• ½ onion chopped
• 1 stalk of celery chopped
• 4 Cremini mushrooms sliced
• ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• ½ cup grated Asiago cheese
• 2 tablespoons D.O.P extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil
• pat of butter (optional)
• salt
• pepper
• 1 ½  tsp of paprika

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Instructions

1. Cut cabbage into ⅛ wedges. Put the cabbage into a pot of boiling water. Cook cabbage for about 10-15 minutes, drain and let stand.
2. Put 1 tablespoon of oil and a pat of butter into a sauté pan. Bring to heat and add chopped celery, carrots, onions, and also sliced mushrooms.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sauté till onions are translucent, and carrots a bit softened. Then set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
5. Place 1 tablespoon of oil into an oven roasting dish. Add cabbage. Spread vegetables over top.
6. Add tomatoes by spooning overtop. Sprinkle paprika throughout.
7. Top with grated Parmigiano and Asiago. Drizzle some olive oil on top.
8. Place in the oven on the middle rack. Bake till cheese starts to brown and edges of cabbage start caramelizing. About 20 minutes.
9. Take out of the oven and serve.

Notes

You can use other cheeses such as Cheddar, Fontina, or Swiss.

Use the more robust cabbages as they will hold firmer.

• Category: Side dish, vegetarian
• Method: Baking/stovetop
• Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keywords: cabbage, Asiago cheese, Parmigiano cheese, paprika, tomato puree, evo oil, butter, vegetarian, side dish

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