One of my favorite things from the late 90s was the overabundance of sun-dried tomatoes in oil. For example, there was a Cheese Cake Factory at the Atrium Mall in Chestnut Hill (RIP), and we used to go there for group dates. Within the Cheese Cake Factory's giant advertisement/menu you could find sun-dried tomatoes in pasta, in the avocado egg rolls, and weighing down salads (see note below).* I'm kind of surprised that they didn't have an Oreo cheese cake with sun-dried tomatoes. Maybe sun-dried tomatoes were a bit overused, but I think the pendulum has swung too far the other direction.
In contrast, one thing that was underused in the 90s was roasted cabbage. When roasted, cabbage becomes a perfect blend of flaky and buttery bites (but not at all soggy). Dressed in sun-dried tomatoes and gussied up with pine nuts, oven roasted cabbage is far from basic. The cabbage soaks up the oil and flavor from the tomatoes without becoming greasy. It's a quick, hearty side dish. Also, the NYT told me cabbage is back so who am I to argue?
*I cannot find proof of a Cheese Cake Factory salad with sun-dried tomato, but I have a strong memory of it.
This cabbage dish pairs well with standards like keilbasa, potatoes, or crusty bread.
Roasted Green Cabbage
Prep time 5 minutes, Cook time 30 minutes. Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 small to medium green cabbage
2-ish tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes and their oil (or more to taste)
2 tablespoons pine nuts
Fresh ground salt and pepper
STEP ONE
Preheat oven to 450. Clean your medium green cabbage, remove any wilted leaves, and cut off the majority of the stem (leave enough intact so that slices of cabbage do not completely fall apart when cut). Cut cabbage into 3/4 inch slices. You should have 5-7 slices. Brush olive oil across the pieces of cabbage and grind a little salt and pepper over them, then place them oil side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Now oil the other side of the cabbage slices and add salt and pepper.
STEP THREE
Roast cabbage for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes cabbage should be starting to take on color and get crusty around the edges (If not, give it another 5 minutes). Carefully flip your cabbage slices so that they can brown on the other side (the cabbage will begin to break into pieces, but that's fine). Roast cabbage for 10 more minutes. While cabbage roasts put pine nuts on a baking sheet and add that to the oven. Toast pine nuts for 3-5 minutes. Watch your pine nuts like a hawk! You don't want them to burn.
STEP FOUR
Plate your cabbage and then drizzle sun-dried tomatoes and their oil across the cabbage. Finish with a sprinkle of pine nuts.
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