June Recipes: Charred Sweetheart Cabbage & Romesco-style Sauce

Felicity Vincent
Jun 9, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Aug 1, 2024

An easy and beautiful sweetheart cabbage recipe!

Disclaimer, this is not a traditional romesco sauce. There's no parsley, garlic, bread or smoked paprika. I've replaced red wine vinegar with lemon juice and added rose harissa for a spicy and floral note which I think works especially well with cabbage. You could pair the cabbage with a traditional romesco too, but I recommend giving this very easy variant a go.

This recipe makes a great spring side dish, or vegan main event with crunchy bread or stewed beans. It's got crunchy, crispy and creamy textures with sweet, smoky, tangy flavours and a hint of spice.

Ingredients (serves 2-4):

Cabbage:

1 large sweetheart cabbage (or 2 thinner ones)
1 garlic clove
Rapeseed Oil
S&P

Romesco-style sauce:

25g almonds
2 bell peppers (red or yellow)
1 jarred red pepper
2 tsp rose harissa
1/2 lemon, juiced
S&P

Crispy Capers:

100mL vegetable oil
30g capers, drained

Method:

Make the sauce:

Preheat the oven at 200°C.
Roast the bell peppers whole in the oven for 45 minutes or until they have browned all over. Turn the oven off and leave the peppers to cool down fully. Alternatively, if you have a gas hob, you can also burn the skin of the peppers directly on the flame and leave them covered in a bowl to cool down.
Once cooled, remove the skin and seeds of the roasted peppers using your fingers. Don't worry if there are a few seeds left, they are edible and not spicy.
Warm up the almonds in a dry frying pan on medium heat for 2 minutes. This step is optional but will release more flavour from the almonds.
Place all the sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Season to taste.

Fry the capers:

In a small saucepan, heat up the vegetable oil on a medium-high heat.
Drain the capers and dry them on a bit of kitchen paper.
Test the oil is ready by inserting a wooden spoon handle (or a caper) into it. It should start bubbling straight away.
Fry the capers in the oil until they open up and start to brown.
Remove the capers from the oil and drain them straight away on kitchen paper.
Save the frying oil. Leave it to cool down before straining it into a jug and pouring it back in the oil bottle to keep for your next savoury frying project. You can reuse frying oil a few times before you notice a rancid smell or change in colour.

Cook the sweetheart cabbage:

Warm up 2 Tbs rapeseed oil in a frying pan on a high heat.
Slice the sweetheart cabbage in 4, lengthways. Make sure to wash it in cold water in between the leaves to remove any dirt, then dry them off with a kitchen towel.
Place the cabbage quarters in the frying pan and cook for 2 minutes/until brown on each side.
Smash a clove of garlic, skin on, with the palm of your hand or a knife.
Turn the heat down to medium, add the garlic clove and some water to the pan until it covers about half the height of the sweetheart cabbage and cover it with a lid. Cook for a further 8 minutes, the core should be tender enough to easily insert a knife into it.
Plate everything up and enjoy while the cabbage is hot. Bon appétit!

More about this sweetheart cabbage recipe:

Shortcuts:

Use only jarred roasted red peppers, preferably not in oil. If you can splurge on piquillo peppers, these have a particularly smoky flavour which will work very well in this, but to be honest any roasted red pepper will do beautifully!
If you would prefer to avoid frying things, sprinkle the capers straight from the jar onto the plate and add toasted flaked almonds for a crunchy texture on top instead.

Keys to success:

This recipe is quite easy, but here are a few things I'd say to keep in mind.

Fried capers: make sure to dry the capers on kitchen paper properly before frying to avoid the oil splattering and to allow them to fry evenly. They will open up like a little flower and start to brown. Take them out when they start browning as they will continue cooking out of the oil, and drain them on kitchen paper.
Charred Cabbage: They are cooked when you can easily insert a knife into the core. Don't worry if there is still water left, just remove the cabbage and drain it on kitchen paper before serving. Likewise, if the water has entirely evaporated but the core is not quite cooked threw, just add another small glass of water to the pan.

Health benefits:

Sweetheart Cabbage is a great source of:

folate which supports the formation of red blood cells and serotonin;
vitamin C which contributes to healthy cells, healing wounds and bone health;
vitamin K which enables blood to clot and therefore wounds to heal properly, as well as supporting bone health;
biotin which is essential in the formation of fatty acids found in barriers across our body;
vitamin B1 (Thiamin) which helps the body break down food for energy and supports the nervous system;
fibre which improves gut health and helps prevent diseases such as colon cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Although not very high in protein, it does contain all 9 essential amino acids.

Cabbage contains glucosinolates which, aside from imparting that distinctive smell, stimulate the production on detoxifying enzymes. Not only that, but they contain other phenolic compounds and antioxidants including carotenoids and isothiocyanate which have been linked to a reduced risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cataracts, Alzheimer's and diabetes.

They also contain compounds known as indoles and diothiolthiones which have been linked to the prevention of colon, rectum and breast cancers.

Mood food - promoting happiness:

Folate - linked to levels of serotonin (one of the good mood hormones) - being low in folate increases your chance of feeling depressed.

Vitamin C - is involved in converting dopamine to noradrenaline which contributes to the control of mood, low amounts have also been linked with depression and a lack of motivation.

Vitamin B1 (thiamin) - being low in thiamin can lead to higher irritability, tiredness and depression.

Full of antioxidants and phenolic compounds - which reduce oxidative stress and support brain health.

Insoluble fibre - recent research indicates that our gut friendly bacteria (microbiome) may produce tryptophan when digesting insoluble fibre which is a precursor for serotonin.

Hopefully this makes you excited to try this and many other sweetheart cabbage recipes!