Charred Cabbage with Mushroom Butter
Reprinted from the new book Health Nut: A Feel-Good Cookbook by Jess Damuck. Text copyright © 2024 by Jess Damuck. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Linda Pugliese. Published by Abrams.
Charring vegetables is a magic trick. It pulls all the sweetness to the top and adds the richest, deepest smoky flavor, transforming the humble cabbage into something so special. Mushroom powder brings this cabbage into another dimension—swirled with a little butter, the dish becomes a tender, melt-in-your-mouth savory side, or, with a little rice and a crispy egg, it’s satisfying enough to enjoy as a main course.
This recipe, and others like it, can be found in the article “We’re in Love with These 1970s-Inspired Summer Salads.”
How to Make It
1
Prep the cabbage: Remove the outer leaves of 1 green cabbage and cut it into quarters.
2
Cook the cabbage: Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon neutral oil and the 4 wedges of cabbage. Cook the cabbage undisturbed until very dark on one side, darker than you think is normal or right, about 10 minutes.
3
Assemble the cabbage: Next, you will be doing a very cheffy thing here, called butter basting. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the butter to the pan with the cabbage. Once it starts getting a little foamy, tilt the pan toward you a bit, and use a spoon to baste the butter over each cabbage wedge at its thickest part. Do this for about 30 seconds to a minute, then take a little break, and do it again a few more times. If the butter starts to get too dark, add another little knob. It’s a little bit hard to test the cabbage for doneness with certainty, but a skewer should be able to be inserted deep into the cabbage fairly easily. Add 1 tablespoon mushroom powder to the butter, swirl it all around, and baste the cabbage wedges one more time.
4
Serve the cabbage: Carefully remove the cabbage from the pan, cut it into smaller pieces if desired, and drench with any butter left in the pan. Shake a little vinegar over the top and sprinkle with flaky salt.
Ingredients
1 medium green cabbage
1 tbsp neutral oil, such as sunflower or avocado
6 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more if needed
1 tbsp mushroom powder
brown rice vinegar
flaky salt
Directions
1
Prep the cabbage: Remove the outer leaves of 1 green cabbage and cut it into quarters.
2
Cook the cabbage: Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon neutral oil and the 4 wedges of cabbage. Cook the cabbage undisturbed until very dark on one side, darker than you think is normal or right, about 10 minutes.
3
Assemble the cabbage: Next, you will be doing a very cheffy thing here, called butter basting. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the butter to the pan with the cabbage. Once it starts getting a little foamy, tilt the pan toward you a bit, and use a spoon to baste the butter over each cabbage wedge at its thickest part. Do this for about 30 seconds to a minute, then take a little break, and do it again a few more times. If the butter starts to get too dark, add another little knob. It’s a little bit hard to test the cabbage for doneness with certainty, but a skewer should be able to be inserted deep into the cabbage fairly easily. Add 1 tablespoon mushroom powder to the butter, swirl it all around, and baste the cabbage wedges one more time.
4
Serve the cabbage: Carefully remove the cabbage from the pan, cut it into smaller pieces if desired, and drench with any butter left in the pan. Shake a little vinegar over the top and sprinkle with flaky salt.
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