Once You Make Melting Cabbage, You'll Never Make The Veggie Another Way

Cheap, healthy, and hearty. There's no denying the benefits of cabbage as a winter staple, but it can sometimes be hard to get excited about eating it. If that's you, then you need to make melting cabbage.

Melting cabbage – and any other "melting" vegetable — is named for its velvety texture that melts in your mouth as you eat it. The soft consistency is achieved using a moist cooking technique, but this is a far cry from mushy, bland, boiled cabbage.

The dish starts with searing cabbage wedges in a skillet to imbue the vegetable with rich caramelized flavors and a browned exterior for textural contrast. These wedges are then slowly braised under foil in the oven where the inner leaves become meltingly soft, while at the same time soaking up all the flavors from a rich broth.

This is not the quickest of cabbage recipes to make, requiring around an hour in the oven, but the hands-off cooking time makes all the difference when it comes to turning this humble brassica into something you'll want to make again and again. It's a great side for winter dishes like roast chicken or pork chops but can be served as a vegetarian main atop soft polenta or mashed potato.

Part of the appeal of melting cabbage is just how simple it is, but that simplicity paves the way for countless variations. At its most basic, all you need is a green or savoy cabbage, butter or olive oil for the searing step, and chicken or vegetable broth for braising. If you're feeling luxurious, some extra butter added at the end will help to give it a glossy sauce.

Sliced garlic and herbs such as thyme added to the braising liquid will add more layers of flavor without much effort on your part, as will a splash of white wine or cream. Grated Parmesan and a squeeze of lemon make for a simple finish, but a more indulgent option is to add Gruyère and put it under the broiler after baking.

You can of course take melting cabbage in an entirely different direction. When braised with white miso, butter, and soy sauce, this cabbage packs a powerful umami punch, perfect for serving with sesame noodles. For a one-pot main, take inspiration from Indian flavors. Cabbage seared with curry spices then simmered with coconut milk and tinned chickpeas creates a warming, filling dinner you can serve straight from the skillet.