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.

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 - 35Miso Butter Roasted Cabbage Wedges - 43Miso Butter Roasted Cabbage Wedges - 41Miso Butter Roasted Cabbage Wedges - 32Miso Butter Roasted Cabbage Wedges - 56