braised cabbage, or an exercise in humility

you know who your real friends are when you can announce to them that you are serving them braised cabbage for dinner and they will not cringe, weakly feign enthusiasm or quietly call for pizza. and when you plunk a tray on the table full of almost colorless crucifers, braised within an inch of their lives, and your friends still do not scoff or scorn, then you know you've really found some keepers.
those who do wrinkle their noses, however, will be converted upon first bite, however hesitant the bite may be. braised cabbage is as comforting as comfort food gets: slowly cooked under a blanket of foil just long enough to gently slump under a layer of onion and carrot, throwing any traces of bitterness to the winds and yielding the most mild, mellow sweetness imaginable. it brings me back to some of my favorite winter childhood meals: creamed corn, spicy shredded eggplant, baked chicken topped with sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions, and an eponymous dish we cleverly dubbed "pork and cabbage." deep, earthy, simple tastes that are wholly uninhibited by their humble palettes.
and so i have left this braise as is, because it needs no clever spice blend or surprise ingredient. like molly, i strongly recommend serving it with a dish of coarse, flaky salt (maldon or fleur de sel) because it will be needed. i'm sure this braise would pair beautifully with bratwurst or corned beef, but i've topped it with (shock me shock me) a poached egg, and would be hard pressed to dream up a more soothing dinner.
oh, and if you're looking for a cheap, minimal-effort way to feed a bunch of people, this is it. while cabbage can't boast an the visual appeal of, say, sautéed russian kale, it does retain its bulk even through such a long cook time, meaning a 2 or 3 pound cabbage can feed quite a few. and, like many braises, it keeps beautifully for a few days in the fridge, even improving with age as the flavors meld and mellow.

braised cabbage with onions & carrots
adapted from all about braising, via orangette
makes 7 or more servings, depending on the size of your cabbage

• 1 medium head green cabbage, about 2 lbs
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced into rough 1/3" slices
• 1 large carrot, sliced into ¼" rounds
• ¼ cup good-quality vegetable stock
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• poached egg, for topping (optional)
  
• maldon salt or fleur de sel, to taste

preheat the oven to 325°F, and position a rack in the middle of the oven.

peel off and discard from the cabbage any bruised or messy outer leaves. give the cabbage a quick rinse under cool water, and dry it lightly. cut it into 8 wedges, and trim away some of the woody core, leaving enough to hold each wedge intact. arrange the wedges in a 9" x 13" baking dish. they may overlap a little, but you want them to lie in a single—if crowded—layer. if they don’t fit nicely into the dish, remove one wedge and set it aside for later use in a quick sauté, salad, or soup. (i was using a 3 lb cabbage and so i baked the wedges that wouldn't fit separately in a 9" glass pie plate, scaling the seasonings and liquids up accordingly.)

scatter the onion and carrot over the cabbage, and pour the stock and oil over the vegetables. season with some very generous pinches of coarse salt, a couple grinds of the pepper mill, and the red pepper flakes. cover the dish tightly with foil, and slide it into the oven. cook the vegetables for 1 hour, then remove the dish from the oven and gently turn the cabbage wedges. if the dish seems at all dry, add a couple tablespoons of water or stock. cover the dish, and return it to the oven to cook until the vegetables are very tender, about an hour more.

when the cabbage is completely tender, remove the foil over the baking dish, turn the oven up to 400°F, and continue cooking until the vegetables begin to brown lightly on their edges, another 15 or so minutes.

serve warm, topped with a poached egg (if you like) and sprinkled with plenty of flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper.