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Charred Sweetheart Cabbage Wedges with Miso Butter and Sesame
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Pointed cabbages like ‘Hispi’ and ‘Caraflex’ are the sprinters of the brassica bed: sown in late spring, they head up in ten to twelve weeks, and by early September the rows are full of loose, pale-hearted cones that split if you leave them standing. Cut one, sear the wedges hard, then steam them soft and glaze them off the heat with white miso butter — smoke, sweetness and a mineral edge in one pan.
3 spring onions, green parts only, sliced on the diagonal (or a small handful of chives)
1 lime, cut into wedges (lemon works)
Flaky sea salt and coarsely cracked black pepper
The Recipe
Peel off any leathery outer leaves, then halve each cabbage lengthways and halve again, cutting straight down through the core so every wedge keeps a spine of stem. Do not skip this: the core is the hinge that holds the leaves together through searing, and it turns sweet and juicy as it cooks, like a brassica version of a leek heart.
Pat the cut faces completely dry with a cloth. Surface moisture steams instead of browning, and a wet wedge will sit in the pan going grey for five minutes before it ever colours.
Mash the butter with the miso, grated garlic, ginger, vinegar and honey in a small bowl until it looks like a smooth caramel-coloured paste with no pale streaks. Keep it at room temperature — cold butter won’t melt into a glaze fast enough later, and reheating miso in a hot pan scorches its sugars into bitterness.
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, shaking constantly, until they turn the colour of pale straw and you hear the first few pop. Tip them straight onto a cold plate; left in the hot pan they keep cooking and go acrid.
Heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high until it shimmers and a drop of water skitters. Lay the wedges down on one cut face, season with salt, and leave them alone for 4–5 minutes. Resist moving them — the browning you want is a continuous mahogany crust with a few near-black frilled edges, and that only builds on unbroken contact. Flip and sear the second cut face for 3 minutes.
Pour 4 tbsp (60 ml) water into the pan — it will hiss violently — and clamp on a lid straight away. Steam for 6–8 minutes, until the tip of a knife slides into the thickest part of the core with only slight resistance. This is the stage that decides the dish: seared-only cabbage is charred outside and squeaky raw within.
Lift the lid and let any remaining water boil off, 30–60 seconds, until the pan is dry and sizzling again. Slide the pan off the heat, wait 20 seconds, then add the miso butter in knobs and tilt the pan so it melts into a glossy, bubbling sauce that coats the wedges. Off the heat it emulsifies; on the heat it splits and browns.
Transfer to a warm platter, spoon every scrap of pan glaze over the top, then scatter with sesame seeds, spring onion greens and cracked pepper. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze at the table — the acid cuts the butter and lifts the miso’s savoury depth, and added earlier it would dull the colour of the greens.
