Roasted cabbage wedges with spiced tomato sauce

A hearty dish that tastes like cabbage rolls!

Many people have told me they don’t cook cabbage because they don’t like the nasty, lingering aroma it can leave it its wake. Baking cabbage is a great way to prevent that unfortunate smell, usually created by overcooking the cabbage, causing it to release hydrogen sulfide. I made coleslaw last week and have had half a head of cabbage winking at me from the back of the fridge ever since. As I wondered what to do with it, I got to thinking about cabbage rolls. I adore them – especially vegetarian ones – but they sure are time consuming to make. This dish offers a quick, deconstructed version of the flavour, if not the method, behind the cabbage roll’s awesome yumminess. This makes a great light meal; if you want to make it a heartier dish, double the tomato sauce and serve the baked cabbage wedges on top of hot cooked brown rice, stirring the extra sauce – which is ridiculously tasty – into the rice.

Ingredients

• 1/2 head green, napa or Savoy cabbage, cut into 1/2 or 3/4 inch (1.25 – 2 cm) thick wedges
• 1 – 2 tablespoons (15 – 30 mL) olive oil for brushing
• sea salt and pepper
• 1 cup (250 mL) tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) finely chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 mL) celery seed
• 1/8 teaspoon (.75 mL) each cumin, turmeric, oregano, pepper

Method

• Preheat oven to 400F.
• Lay cabbage wedges on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you’d prefer the wedges to cook up softer without nice crispy edges, then snuggle them together in a glass or ceramic 9 x 13 inch (22.5 x 32.5 cm) baking pan (or parchment-lined metal baking pan of the same size).
• Brush exposed sides of cabbage with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

• Bake 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven and brush with combined tomato sauce, onion and spice mixture.

• Cook 15 – 20 minutes longer until centre of a cabbage wedge feels slightly tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife.

Serves 2 – 4.