Hello my loves,

Today I’m drawing your attention to one of the more bashful stars of the winter harvest: cabbage. The humble cabbage doesn’t get a lot of culinary airtime, but I love these hefty bowling balls of goodness. Treated well, they’ll reward you with a silky texture and earthy sweetness that I find endlessly enticing. They are also the most generous of vegetables - one cabbage goes a long way! When sliced and prepared, they somehow produce a volume that’s more than the sum of their parts. In the Hearth & Soul kitchen, we launched a rebranding attempt, renaming cabbage 'cah-barge', and saying it with a vaguely European inflection in an effort to lift its profile from a lurker in low-brow medieval soups to the winter starring role it deserves.

To whet your cabbage-whistle, today I’m sharing one of my favourite cabbagey recipes. It’s a gorgeous gratin, in which humpy hillocks of cabbage nestle beneath a crunchy crumb, where they braise happily away in chicken stock and herbs, rendering them velveteen-soft and incredibly flavoursome. It’s a total winter winner. You can replace the chicken stock with vege stock to make this vegetarian. So read on my loves for some cabbagey inspiration! And please also accept my best wishes for a sparkling weekend ahead. There’s a faint, early warmth in the air where I live, and I’ll be enjoying it to the fullest extent I can ❄️☀️ ❄️

Savoy cabbage gratin

A medium savoy cabbage, about 1.2kg (you could also use regular white cabbage)
80g butter
20 sprigs thyme
5 bay leaves
7 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
375ml white wine
500ml chicken stock (make your own – see end of email)
Salt and pepper
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
150g parmesan cheese
Olive oil

You will also need a large casserole dish that’s suitable for the oven and the stove top. If you don’t have one, you can do the stove-top part in a large frypan, and transfer everything gently into a baking dish at the appropriate point.

Heat your oven to 220C. Core the cabbage and cut it into 5-6 large wedges, about 10cm thick. Melt 50g of the butter in your casserole dish, then nestle the cabbage into the butter and cook for a couple of minutes on each side, until it has a nice colour to it. Add the garlic, bay and thyme, nestling them into the crevices between the cabbage wedges. Cook for another minute, then add the white wine. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, until the cabbage has softened a little, then remove the lid and cook for one minute more. Add the chicken stock, season well with salt and pepper, bring it all to the boil, then put the dish in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. If the dish you started the cabbage in isn’t oven-proof, you can transfer everything gently into a baking tray, taking care to maintain the integrity of the cabbage wedges if you can.

While the cabbage cooks, prepare the cheesy crumb. Grate the parmesan and mix it with the breadcrumbs. Once the cabbage has cooked for 30 minutes, pull the dish from the oven and spread the crumb and cheese mix over the top, making sure to cover as much of the tops of the cabbages wedges as you can. Dot the remaining 30g of butter over the top, and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Return to the oven for 15 minutes, or until the top is golden. I like to position my gratin towards the top of the oven during this last stint, to help crisp up the crumbs.

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Quick chicken stock
500g free range chicken wings, or chicken bones, or a mix of both
One medium onion, skin on, sliced
Four cloves garlic, skins on, chopped in half
Any vege ends you have lying about

Place everything in a pot and cover with 2 litres water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and cook on a low simmer, covered, for at least an hour, but preferably 2-4 hours. Strain, and your stock is ready to use.

Slow cooker chicken stock
I use this method to make larger batches of stock, which I then freeze in 750ml - 1litre quantities, so I always have some on hand. Cooking the stock for longer provides a richer broth, so I usually make it this way, unless I’m caught short, in which case I use the quick method above.

One pasture-raised chicken frame (carcass)
500g free range chicken wings or chicken feet (optional - gives a richer stock)
Two large handfuls onion skins, which I save in the freezer (you can substitute one large whole onion, sliced)
10 garlic cloves, or a large handful of garlic skins if you've been saving them in the freezer like I do
Any vege ends you have lying about

Put everything in your slow cooker, fill with water until the chicken is just covered, then cook on high for 8-24 hours. Strain, then use. Stock can be refrigerated for about a week, or frozen for months.

Love, Rachel xxx