The ideal winter dish? It’s this cosy cabbage recipe

Once, I wrote about my expansive, ever-growing devotion to cabbages in the Cooking newsletter, casually asking readers if they were also on Team Cabbage.

I wasn’t banking on much of a response. After all, cabbage is a divisive vegetable with a stodgy reputation. Even enthusiasts are sometimes hesitant to lug home a head, as solid and heavy as a bowling ball. When grated, the average cabbage can yield anywhere from 8 to 12 cups — a mountain to get through.

How wrong I was. Cabbage fans turned out in force, deluging my inbox with tributes, recipes, a short story, even a poem. It warmed my cabbage-loving heart.

This cabbage dish is a mashup of several recipes gleaned from those reader emails. It crosses a caramelised cabbage and onion saute with a lasagne-like casserole. Think of it almost like a pork-based hybrid of Hungarian stuffed cabbage and Greek stuffed grape leaves.

My goal was to turn all those recipes into something that could be made in one large skillet.

I also wanted to create a generous recipe that would use up an entire medium head of cabbage. That way, you wouldn’t have to wonder about what to do with a leftover wedge in the fridge. (My favourite solution: sliver it up and toss it in with your green salad for crunch.)

Savoy cabbage, with its ruffled leaves, is the right choice here because it cooks faster than regular green or red cabbage. But any kind will work. Just keep sauteing until it’s very tender before adding the meat.

And here’s a shortcut. If you have about three-quarters of a cup of cooked rice on hand, you can skip a step and add it to the bowl with the pork and herb mixture. But don’t stint on those herbs. The nearly three cups called for may seem excessive, but they add needed complexity and freshness. A herby, garlicky yoghurt sauce served on the side also helps brighten things up.

You can make this dish a few days ahead and store it covered in the fridge (still in the frying pan if you can spare it). Then reheat it in a 175C oven until steaming. This stalwart cabbage casserole even freezes well, should you have any left. But if your home is filled with cabbage lovers, you probably won’t.

Recipe: Pork-Cabbage Casserole

By Melissa Clark

Ingredients

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 large white onion, diced

fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

⅓ cup long-grain rice

1 ½ cups chicken or vegetable stock, or water

2 ½ cups chopped leafy herbs and tender stems, such as coriander, dill, parsley, mint, preferably a combination, plus more for garnish

¼ cup chopped fresh oregano leaves

3 spring onions, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon finely-grated lemon zest, plus ¼ cup juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)

½ cup plain Greek yoghurt, plus more for serving

3 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced

450g ground pork or turkey

1 large egg

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1 (900g) savoy cabbage, thinly sliced (about 8 cups; see tip)

3 tbsp finely grated Parmesan

Preparation:

Step 1 Heat oven to 165C. In a large frying pan with a tight-fitting lid, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium. Add onion and 1 teaspoon salt. Saute until onions are pale gold at the edges, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer half of the onions to a small bowl and set aside for the cabbage.

Step 2 Add rice and 1 cup stock to the onions in the pan and bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is about halfway cooked (it should still be a bit firm), 8 to 10 minutes.

Step 3 In a large bowl, combine the herbs, spring onions and lemon zest, and mix well. Transfer ¼ cup of the herb-lemon zest mixture to a small bowl and stir in the yoghurt, ½ teaspoon garlic and a large pinch of salt; refrigerate until serving.

Step 4 When the rice is ready, add it to the bowl with the herbs and mix well. Add the pork, ½ teaspoon salt and remaining garlic, and gently mix to combine. Add the egg and mix to combine.

Step 5 In the same pan (you don’t need to wash it), melt butter and heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium. Add the cabbage and reserved sauteed onions. (If it doesn’t all fit, you can let some of the cabbage wilt and shrink, then add the rest.) Season cabbage with 1 teaspoon salt and saute until wilted, about 5 minutes. Cover and let cook until tender, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Uncover and cook until the cabbage starts to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes more.

Step 6 Transfer half of the softened cabbage to a medium bowl. Spread cabbage in the pan in an even layer. Dollop the pork mixture evenly on the cabbage. Top the pork with the remaining cabbage. Add remaining ½ cup stock and the lemon juice. Cover the pan and bake until the cabbage is very tender, about 1 hour.

Step 7 Remove the pan from the oven and turn on the grill. Uncover pan, sprinkle the cabbage with Parmesan, then grill until nicely browned on top, 1 to 3 minutes. Top cabbage with more herbs and serve with the yoghurt sauce.

Tip: You can substitute green or red cabbage, just add 5 to 10 minutes to the cooking time in Step 5. The cabbage should be very soft before you add the pork.

Serves 6

Total time: 1 ½ hours

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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