Roasted Cabbage with Vegan Dijon Sauce

This tangy #vegan side dish goes well with anything savory

A lot of the recipes that I like that use cabbage as an ingredient call for a half head (e.g., Chinese noodle dishes). I was looking for something to do with the other half. I've also been on a bit of a lentil kick lately, using small green lentils as a low-carb, high-protein base for a lot of my meals. (You really can use them the same way you would use rice, you get a fair bit more in the way of nutritional goodies.) The only problem is the lentils need some contrasting flavours to keep the dish interesting. Why not roasted cabbage in a zesty mustard sauce?

I've based this recipe on a really entertaining blog post from An Oregon Cottage. I wanted to make it vegan though and increase the sauce proportions a bit because I was thinking of it more as part of a chopped warm salad. So here's what I did.

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 1 Tbl olive oil

3 Tbl onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 of a medium onion)

2 cloves of garlic, minced with a little salt

1/2 head largish cabbage

2 Tbl lemon juice

2 Tbl dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

Directions

In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onion. Cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes more. Remove from heat and allow pot to cool.

onions and garlic cooking in a small saucepan

Preheat oven to 425°F.

If you haven't already, cut the cabbage in half from the root. Wrap one half in plastic wrap and put it back in the fridge for something else.

Cut the 1/2 cabbage head into 4 roughly equal wedges, leaving the core intact.

Lay the wedges on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Put 1 Tbl olive oil in a small bowl. Brush cabbage with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Flip the wedges over and repeat on the other side.

Roast the cabbage for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and carefully flip each wedge over. Return to the oven for another 10-12 minutes.

While the cabbage is roasting, mix the dijon, lemon juice and (optional) salt in a small mixing bowl with a whisk.

Add the olive oil mixture a little bit at a time, whisking after each addition so the sauce stays smooth.

Once the cabbage has cooled a bit, take one of the pieces and place it on a cutting board. Cut off the core with a diagonal slice and discard. If the outer leaf is paper-thin and charred, discard it as well. Slice width-wise along the length of the cabbage to make 1" chunks. Transfer these pieces to a large bowl. Repeat for the other three wedges.

Mix in the sauce and serve warm. The flavour is a bit strong, so try to serve it with something relatively low-key for balance. It makes a good topping for a bowl of lentils or quinoa. I find it also tastes great cold in a plate full of veggies.