Baked cabbage with shaved fennel, apple, herb oil and toasted sunflower seeds

This is a salad perfect for a festive buffet - or a side to any meal really! The simplicity of baked cabbage, the flavours and textures which arises when being baked is extraordinary!! It’s silky, sweet and just v.e.r.y. tasty! Drizzle the whole thing with a lovely green oil and toss with a couple of hand fulls of shaved crispy vegges and fruits for great textures and flavours - and you’re good to go!

During winter I would probably use kale (which I massage with cold pressed rapeseed oil and a pinch of salt) instead of the fennel - and when you want to vary the recipe you can use any citrus fruit instead (or together with the) of the apples. Anyhow - the cabbage is key!

Baked cabbage with shaved fennel, apple, herb oil and toasted sunflower seeds

Serves 4-6 as a side salad

Ingredients

1 cabbage (preferably fresh cabbage, or pointy cabbage)

1 fennel

2 red apples

1 dl / 0.4 US cups sunflower seeds

1 tbsp rape seed oil

fresh thyme for garnish

Herb oil

1 dl / 0.4 US cups cold pressed rapeseed oil

1 dl / 0.4 US cups fresh herbs (e.g parsley, thyme, mint)

1 garlic clove

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to

Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the cabbage in pieces, drizzle with oil. Put on a baking tray and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes, until the cabbage is all silky and sweet - but still have that bite to it. Let cool.

Put the sunflower seeds on a baking tray. Toast in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes, until a nutty aroma fills the kitchen. Stir around halfway through. Let cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the herb oil (I tend to use the herbs I have at home, so every herb oil gets different). Salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the cabbage with half of the herb oil. Shave the fennel and apples using a mandoline, or slice thinly using a sharp knife. Layer the cabbage, fennel and apples and most of the sunflower seeds on a serving plate. Drizzle som extra herb oil on top and sprinkle with the rest of the sunflower seeds. Garnish with fresh thyme.

Recipe was first published in The Gothenburg-Post/Två dagar. Photo by Fanny Hansson.