caramelized lemon miso braised cabbage
episode 3 of "cheap fancy"
Hello! Welcome to installment 3 of my Cheap Fancy series. There are some staples when it comes to eating cheaply. Things like beans, canned fish, or grains are always great options. But one that is very underrated, in my opinion, is cabbage.
Cabbage is usually very large and can certainly feed a family, plus it is high in fiber, and it just tastes delicious! There are so many different ways to prepare cabbage, but one of my favorite methods is braised cabbage. And I’ll be doing a two-part cabbage series using the other half of the head I used for this recipe.
In the recipe below, i’ll be including approximate prices, as well as cheaper alternatives for certain ingredients!
the full recipe:
serves 2-4
see the video of this recipe
total cost: $2, or $1 per serving.
Ingredients
2-3 tbsp high-heat oil, like grapeseed.
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced into two wedges
*slice into 4 wedges if you serve this as a side*
4-5 slices of lemon
1 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp heavy cream (optional)
Tools
oven safe skillet. (Cast iron is great for this)
Steps
Pre-heat your oven to 350ºF.
Bring a medium-sized, oven-safe pan to high heat on the stove. Drizzle in 2-3 grapeseed oil and allow to warm up for a few seconds.
Carefully make sure the surfaces of the cabbage wedges are dry, then place them into the hot oil. Sear on both sides of each wedge until browned. You may want to gently press on the cabbage to help the sear. Once browned, remove and set aside.
Lower the heat to low and use a paper towel to wipe the pan. Then, place 4-5 lemon slices into the still-warm pan. Bring the heat up to medium and continue flipping the lemon slices until they are browned on each side. Use tongs to remove from the pan, but squeeze out any remaining juices. Discard lemons or save for another use.
In the pan, add the 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water along with 1 tbsp butter. Stir until the butter is emulsified into the water. Then add 1 tbsp miso paste and stir until combined.
Add the minced garlic and stir to combine, allowing to simmer briefly to soften the garlic. Turn the heat off.
Carefully place the cabbage wedges back into the pan, nestled into the sauce. If you have one side of the cabbage that has a better sear, make sure that side is not in the sauce.
Place the pan with cabbage and sauce into the 350ºF oven for 30-35 minutes or until the cabbages is soft all the way through. Check frequently to avoid burning the sauce.
Carefully remove the cabbage from the oven. Use tongs and/or a spatula to gently remove the cabbage wedges from the pan, and place onto serving plates.
If the pan sauce looks dry, add 1 tbsp of cream and a splash of water. You can also add only water. Whisk over low heat until the sauce is pourable. Then top each plate of cabbage with generous amount of sauce.
Garnish with any herbs you have or black pepper or flake salt.
Feel free to cut the half of the cabbage into 4 smaller wedges if you’re serving this as a side dish.
The flavor of this dish is very lemon-forward. If you aren’t a big lemon fan, I suggest using only 2 or 3 lemon slices.
Grapeseed oil - Any high-heat, neutral-flavored oil will work. Vegetable, canola, avocado, are all good options.
Miso paste - There isnt a good alternative to this, but if you cannot find it, I suggest omitting and adding a small amount soy sauce in its place. If you are able to find the Korean ingredient doenjang, that could work too. But if you can’t find miso, you probably won’t find that either.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you try it, please comment below or tag me on social media!