Charred Cabbage and Crispy Potatoes with Jalapeño-Garlic-Cilantro Sauce
I’ve been loving the charred cabbage dishes I’ve had at restaurants lately (try the charred hakka cabbage at Two Penny, charred cabbage with walnut vinaigrette and manchego at Ten Foot Henry, and the charred cabbage with Mimolette cheese and jalapeño cream at Pigeonhole), and figured it’s about as easy as it gets to make at home. I use thick wedges or inch-thick cross-sections of green cabbage and cook them in oil or ghee in a very hot cast iron skillet until they’re charred on both sides and tender all the way through (cover the pan for a few minutes if you need to, and you could even add a splash of stock or water to create some steam), but you could also drizzle it with oil and roast in a hot oven until tender and charred on the edges.
It could get smoky! But that’s OK- it’s also quick and easy to just straight-up cook a chunk of cabbage in a skillet, like a steak. The intense heat will make it tender-crisp all the way through.
And if you want to roast it in the oven, that’s OK too – you won’t get the same contact with the hot skillet, but you’ll still get crispy bits. And that’s what I was going for with the squished potatoes – I had leftover boiled new potatoes in the fridge from a big fondue party on the weekend, and so enlisted W to squish them with a fork on a baking sheet, drizzle them with oil, and roast for 15 minutes to get them all toasty and crisp.
It’s one of my favourite ways to make potatoes, and they pair so well with charred cabbage – it’s like the opposite of colcannon (which a surprising number of you make every March when it closes in on St Patrick’s Day), but somehow still the same in the end. Here’s to more boiled potatoes and cabbage for dinner.
Charred Cabbage and Crispy Potatoes with Jalapeño-Garlic-Cilantro Sauce
AuthorJuliePreheat the oven to 450F. Cover the potatoes with water in a pot that will accommodate them, bring to a boil and cook until they’re just fork-tender. Drain. (You can do this up to a few days in advance, and keep them in the fridge.) Lay them out on a baking sheet and flatten each with a fork. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and roast for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy and golden. If you like, drizzle the cabbage wedges or slices with oil and roast them alongside on the baking sheet. Otherwise get a heavy skillet nice and hot, add a generous drizzle of oil and cook for 5-8 minutes per side, until deep golden and starting to blacken on both sides, and tender-crisp in the middle. (If it doesn’t seem to be cooking through the middle, add 1/4-1/2 cup water or stock and cover the pan for a few minutes to allow it to steam a bit. I avoid this because the cabbage can be a bit more wilted, but some people like that too!)
To make the sauce, combine the cilantro, mayonnaise, sour cream, jalapeño, garlic, lime juice and salt in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Drizzle it over the cabbage and potatoes, and if you like, top with a few curls (make them with your vegetable peeler) of aged Irish cheddar or other cheese. Serves 6ish.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450F. Cover the potatoes with water in a pot that will accommodate them, bring to a boil and cook until they’re just fork-tender. Drain. (You can do this up to a few days in advance, and keep them in the fridge.) Lay them out on a baking sheet and flatten each with a fork. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and roast for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy and golden. If you like, drizzle the cabbage wedges or slices with oil and roast them alongside on the baking sheet. Otherwise get a heavy skillet nice and hot, add a generous drizzle of oil and cook for 5-8 minutes per side, until deep golden and starting to blacken on both sides, and tender-crisp in the middle. (If it doesn’t seem to be cooking through the middle, add 1/4-1/2 cup water or stock and cover the pan for a few minutes to allow it to steam a bit. I avoid this because the cabbage can be a bit more wilted, but some people like that too!)
To make the sauce, combine the cilantro, mayonnaise, sour cream, jalapeño, garlic, lime juice and salt in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Drizzle it over the cabbage and potatoes, and if you like, top with a few curls (make them with your vegetable peeler) of aged Irish cheddar or other cheese. Serves 6ish.
This looks like the best riff on Colcannon ever! so much better than the old Irish classic, “potato and point”. (that’s potato plus ham… if we’d had any ham… that’s where it would be). I’m sorry to say that leftover new potatoes are, in my experience, like leftover wine: you read about it, but somehow there never is any.
Ha! you kind of have to plan for it…
Had a late St. paddy’s family diner tonight, and this dish was a major success. The family now has a new favourite sauce which we will use in other dishes. The crispy potatoes were a hit with young and old. The grand kids ate the cabbage! The 9 year old grand daughter gave ithe meal a two thumbs and two feet up. This dish accompanied crock pot corned beef using Guinness Stout, pickling spice, and a few veggieswith ahorseradish/sour cream sauce for the meat. The gluten free soda bread was more like a biscotti but with butter a few of us persevered with eating more than one piece. Thank you for this fabulous charred cabbage and crispy potato recipe. We may not wait for the next St. paddy’s to make it again.
I’m so glad to hear it! I looooove this sauce… really, you can put it on everything!
Made it for the first time for company (because that’s why we have people over, to experiment, right?) and DH was skeptical. He made his to-die-for ribs on the Big Green Egg, I made this – scattered lovely Irish Dubliner cheese petals and that amazing Jalapeno garlic cilantro sauce…oh the happy folks around the table. DH not only ate all of his and then some, he told me how much he enjoyed it. Win Finished off the meal with the Bourbon Blueberry Crisp. Added a wee dram to the whipped cream for a little bit of extra. SO GOOD. Thanks, Julie – for coming up with great ideas and sharing them so generously.
Yay, I’m so glad! It sounds fantastic!!
OMG. This is soooooooo delicious! And the sauce/dressing makes a regular salad something to behold.
yay!
I just made the sauce. It is delish! Found the whole bunch of forgotten cilantro in my fridge and threw it all in the food processor. No jalepeno on hand so substituted a random hot pepper I had in my freezer. Juiced the end of a lemon and probably put in a couple extra tablespoons of lime juice. Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. It took a couple of minutes max to make the sauce and the same again to wash the food processor. Wilted cilantro be gone!
Amazing, so glad to hear it!
Made this last night. I told my husband to “enjoy your peasant’s dinner” and my husband replied “If this is how peasant’s eat, I don’t want to be king.” He also declared it one of the best things I’ve made in a while. It will go in rotation at our house, that’s for sure!